Hayley Potter Chronicles
by Riza Hawkeye
Summary: This story is based on the assumption James and Lily had a girl, not a boy, though everyone thought they were having a boy, even Lord Voldemort. My imagination runs wild from there. Eventually will be Hermione/Fem-Harry, AU, femslash. Will follow books1-7
1. Misinterpreted Prophecy

I wrote this in a few hours so it's not very long, but it to step things up so...on with the story!

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Chapter 1 – Misinterpreted Prophecy  
~~**~~

An elderly looking man strode down a very common looking street in Surrey England. He didn't appear too out of the ordinary, at least until he stopped in front of particular address. Number 4, Privet Drive, to be precise. He stood there patiently for a moment without a word, until a black cat started to make its way over. He pulled a small silver object out of his robes and gave it a quick flick. In seconds, all the street lights became dark and he put away the silver object once more.

"Good evening, Minerva." The older man calmly greeted the cat. In moments the small cat morphed into a person, a woman in forties or maybe early fifties. The change did not take the older man by surprise at all; in fact he didn't skip a beat and continued his conversion, "I gather word has gotten out then?"

"So, it is true…**He** was defeated tonight."

The older man didn't speak immediately, instead choosing his words carefully, "He targeted the Potters earlier tonight. Their location was compromised despite our efforts to keep them safe."

"Lily and James…"

The older man looked down sadly, "Dead…I'm afraid."

"The ch-child…" Minerva asked, her voice quivering a bit.

"She is alive."

Minerva looked taken aback by the pronoun used, "But Albus…I thought the prophecy spoke of boy…"

Albus looked to the side and smiled slightly, "It did. The Potters were told they would be having a boy, they thought they were having a boy. More importantly, Lord Voldemort thought they were having a boy, at the end of July. Because all the information seemed to fit, they were targeted and because of that she must be protected."

Minerva stared at her companion, "But why? The Dark Lord was defeated. She'll be regarded as a hero."

Albus remained silent for several minutes, until the loud roar of and engine could be heard in the distance. His silence only seemed to unnerve his companion though, "I don't believe Lord Voldemort was truly defeated tonight."

"Why would you say that? What happened in Gordric's Hollow?" The older woman questioned.

"Lord Voldemort's killing curse rebounded off of young Hayley Potter and struck him instead. The only sign of the curse is a lightning bolt shaped wound on her forehead. Aside from that she is without harm. Despite him being struck by his own killing curse, I believe we have yet to see the last of the Dark Lord…" He said and looked up with a smile when he heard the roar louder. "That would be Hagrid with little Hayley Potter, now."

"Was it wise to leave such a precious bundle in his care sir, Hagrid is a little…"

The older man smiled and looked over to the woman beside him, "I would trust Hagrid with my life." He said before turning once more to the vehicle flying in.

As the vehicle grew closer, it became clear what it was, it was motorcycle, a flying one at that. The vehicle flew toward the street descending more and more until it touched down, a little rougher that intended, causing Minerva to gasp. The motorcycle slowed to a stop just a short distance in front of the two people waiting for him. Hagrid stepped off the bike and carefully walked over. When he reached them, he pulled a small bundle of blankets out from under the protection of his mighty arm, "I kept her safe, Professor Dumbledore." He said and passed the infant to the older man. "She slept the entire time."

Albus took the child gently and brushed back her hairs covering the wound she sustained, to view its condition. 'It was nearly completely healed.' He thought to himself before turning back to the large man who arrived a few moments ago, "Did you bring the carrier like I asked?"

"Yes, sir." Hagrid said and rushed back to the motorcycle. After a moment he pulled out a small carrier from the passenger compartment on the motorcycle.

"It's nearly healed." Minerva said, voicing Dumbledore's earlier thought.

"Here you are, Professor." The large man said as he handed him the carrier.

Albus nodded and accepted the carrier, "Yes. It will be no more than a scar in just a short time I would imagine." He gently place the baby in the carrier and tucked her under the blankets. He started to walk up to the house they'd been standing in front of. He caught the look on his companion's face, so he answered her unasked question, "We will be leaving her with her aunt and uncle. They are the only living family she has left."

Minerva looked surprised, even as she continued to walk with Dumbledore. "But with muggles…surely there is a wizarding family that would take her in. She'll be famous."

"Exactly. It will be better for her to grow up away from all of that, with her family." He said in an unquestionable tone. They reached the door and he placed the carrier down. He looked at the young child fondly for another moment before producing a letter out of nowhere. He placed the letter on top of the sleeping baby and took a step back and looked at his companions, "We should be going." He said and received a nod from each of them.

Hagrid mounted the magical motorcycle and with a loud roar, the bike took off. His female companion was gone even quicker, without of sign of how she left. Dumbledore rang the doorbell and waited for few seconds until he was sure someone was coming. Once he heard movement, he once again produced the silver object from earlier and flicked it again, returning the light to the street lights. Once the streets were once again illuminated, the older man was gone, and the front door he had previously stood in front of opened…

* * *

_Eleven years later…_

Hayley Potter ten years old, well soon to be eleven in a matter of a few days, was currently scrubbing the tiled kitchen floor for the third time much to her chagrin. Okay, maybe the first time was somewhat her fault, but the second was most certainly not. The first time, her cousin tried to slug her, for reasons she could only guess, but the point is when he tried to hit, she was able to step away from him avoiding the hit, though unfortunately not the table. Colliding with the table and bringing everything resting on it to the ground. It was a mess, the potted plant, the freshly poured glass of orange, and the jar of preserves that was still on the table from breakfast. Even though it was Dudley that caused her to bump into the table, there was no way he could be a fault in the eyes of her aunt and uncle, so she was ordered to clean up the mess herself.

The second time, she didn't understand what happened exactly. She was nearly finished cleaning when Dudley thought it would be a good time to mock her with a glass of orange juice, just like the one she'd poured for herself earlier. She got angry and she knew things tended to happen when she got angry, but she wasn't thinking about what could happen at that point and before she knew it, the glass in her cousin's hand burst to pieces and sprayed the sticky orange liquid all over the place. Of course, it was her fault the glass exploded and caused another mess.

She was always being blamed for weird occurrences like that, but she couldn't see how they were her fault. She didn't _do_ anything, but it didn't seem to matter to her Aunt and Uncle. She looked over the tiled floor, 'Just about done.' She thought to herself and let a small smile crack her expression. It was certainly a rare occasion for a smile to appear on her face. She appreciated being taken in by her Aunt and Uncle, because she'd much rather be here than an orphanage, but on more than one occasion she wished her parents were still alive.

"Aren't you done yet? There are dishes to be done!"

Hayley wiped her brow of sweat and lost her small smile as she looked up, "Almost, Uncle Vernon, then I'll get right on the dishes." She said and went to work on finishing her current task. After a good ten more minutes, she was finally done. She got up and stretched out her sore body. Her knees and back were sore from scrubbing the floor for so long. She would like nothing more than to relax in her room, though it wasn't so much a room as it was a storage room, under the stairs. However, she knew she had at least one more chore before she could do that and she knew there was no getting out of it simply because she was sore.

She sighed and picked up the cleaning supplies she had been using and put them away, dumping the dirty water do the sink as well. She looked at the pile of dishes and knew from experience that it would take her a good thirty minutes to finish all of them and put them away. That time frame was also dependent on no accidents happening, however they seemed to be occurring more and more frequently. Sighing one more she grabbed her gloves, 'They won't get done on their own.' She told herself and when to task.

The one good thing from always doing the chores around the house, she'd come up with the most efficient ways to accomplish whatever she was doing. For instance, soaking the dishes first was a must, otherwise she have to work forever to scrap them clean. She quickly went about doing the dishes. She was happy when she reached the end and nothing out of the ordinary happened. She removed her gloves and put them away before making her way over to the living room where everyone was gathered, watching some game show.

She took a deep breath, "I'm going to my room if you don't have any more chores for me to do." Hayley said hopefully.

"I saw the post arrive a short time ago. Go fetch it." Vernon said without looking away from the tele.

Hayley nodded, "I'll be right back." She said but couldn't help herself from thinking why he couldn't have gotten up and got it, if he knew it was there. She would never voice her feelings though, not wanting to know the consequences. She crouched down and picked up the mail. She unconsciously flipped through the envelopes, not really looking for anything since she never received anything anyway…she froze however, when she came upon a peculiar letter…one addressed to her.

Little did she know, her life was going to take a turn for the better, for the extraordinary in fact.

End Ch.1

* * *

This is really to 'test the waters' as they say to see how this story would be received. I've seen a few femHarry stories and wanted to try my own story. If it's well received I may try to juggle this one with my Sailor Moon story, otherwise I'll probably take it down. Like I said this is a test, though I would like to see it succeed.

If I do continue this, I can promise anyone looking for something to happen quickly between my female 'Harry' and Hermione won't get that here, this will be a slow burn. They are only eleven or twelve when they start Hogwarts, a little young for romance in my opinion. I intent to follow the books as an outline, though this will not simply be Harry Potter retold simply with a gender switch.


	2. You're a Witch

These initial chapters follow closely to the books, but aren't identical. So, please enjoy!

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Chapter 2 – You're a Witch  
~~**~~

"I saw the post arrive a short time ago. Go fetch it." Vernon said without looking away from the tele.

Hayley nodded, "I'll be right back." She said but couldn't help herself from thinking why he couldn't have gotten up and got it, if he knew it was there. She would never voice her feelings though, not wanting to know the consequences. She crouched down and picked up the mail. She unconsciously flipped through the envelopes, not really looking for anything since she never received anything anyway…she froze however, when she came upon a peculiar letter…one addressed to her.

She was so shocked, she didn't move at all for several seconds. Her immobility eventually drew her Uncle's attention, causing him to call out to her, "Well, I don't have all day, bring them over."

Hayley blinked herself back to reality and she started to make her way over to her Uncle once again, but there was only one thing on her mind, 'What is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?'

As soon as she reached the large man he said, "Well hand 'em over." He stuck out his hand expectantly.

Hayley placed all but one letter into the man's hand. He wasn't exactly paying attention to her though, so he didn't notice she was still holding something, until his son called out, "She took a letter Dad!"

Vernon finally pried his attention away from the television at what his son said, "Give the letter here, girl."

"It's addressed to me, though."

"Honestly, who would be sending you a letter?" Aunt Petunia said, laughing at the end.

Hayley looked at the letter again and read who was the return address, "It says…Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..." She read aloud, causing an immediate end to her Aunt's laughter. Reading the words aloud confirmed that she wasn't seeing things when she read it the first time.

Vernon quickly got up from his seat and ran over to her, "Give me that letter!"

Hayley quickly sidestepped the large man and ran to the other end of the room. "It's mine, you can't have it." She said and held the paper in her hand tightly. She was so focused on her Uncle that she didn't notice her cousin sneaking up behind her until she was tackled to the ground. She struggled with the larger boy for a few minutes, until eventually his superior strength own out. He got off of her, holding the letter.

"Hey! That's mine!" She yelled and tried to grab the envelope out of her cousin's hand.

He ignored her and raced over to his father as fast as his round body could take him. "I got it Father!" He called to the larger man.

The young girl got up and ran after her cousin, but couldn't reach him until he passed the letter along. Her Uncle held the letter above his head and without a second thought tore the letter in half. Hayley's eyes widened as she watched him carelessly tear the letter to shreds, until there was nothing left but confetti.

"Now, go to your room!" Vernon bellowed out and pointed the space under the stairs.

Hayley stared angrily at her Uncle and stomped over to her 'room'. When she was inside, she laid face down on her cot, she couldn't really call it a bed. She could feel tears threatening to fell, but she forced them back. 'He had no right to tear apart my letter.' She punched her cot angrily, when the door opened.

"You are not to leave this room until I say so."

"Fine, I don't want to be let out only clean up after all of you!" She yelled back without looking up.

If steam could come out of one's ears, she was sure it would be coming out of her Uncle's, "You insolent little…" He started to say but slammed the door shut before finishing.

_A little longer than twenty four hours later_…

Hayley was surprise that she didn't see any sign of the Dursleys for the rest of the day or half way through the next day. 'How did they go that long without their maid?' She thought to herself as she was finally allowed to leave to get something to eat. She quickly ate her food and began to make her way back to her 'room', but she stopped to take a look in the living room. Everyone was watching the television. She shook her head, when her eyes caught sight of the remnants of what looked like a couple letters in the fireplace.

"I got another letter…and you burned it?" Hayley questioned anyone who would answer. No one said anything, but her Uncle's smile was more than enough proof for her. "What does it matter to you anyway? They were addressed to me."

"Be happy they're gone." Her Aunt said somewhat harshly.

Hayley was going to question them further, when her Uncle spoke, "Go to your room." He said authoritatively. She glared at him and ran into her 'room' under the stairs, not noticing the table lamp in the living room blowing out when she slammed the door shut.

* * *

Each of the following days were similar to the previous, Hayley was only allowed out to eat and nothing else. At least until Sunday, when there should be no post…

_The final straw was when Sunday rolled around_…

Hayley was finally allowed to be out of her room, but all that really meant was she had chores to do. As she left, she noticed the mail slot on the door had been nailed shut with plywood. She shook her head and continued into the kitchen and stared in disgust at the pile of dirty dishes, 'Do they think I'm their personal dish washer?' She thought and grabbed all of her essentials to do the dishes.

It took her nearly an hour to finish the dishes, and that was double her usual time. She thought they had purposely been more messing than usual, just to make her have more work to do. She walked over to the closet and pulled out the vacuum cleaner, because the carpet was in bad need of it. She uncoiled the cord and walked over to plug the machine in when she paused. She caught a glimpse of outside and was a little confused to see an owl sitting on the fence in front of their house. 'I thought they only hunted at night…' Hayley thought and pulled back the curtains to get a better look. Outside, there were at least a dozen owls perched around the house and if she didn't know any better she'd say they looked like they were getting comfortable.

A loud noise could be heard on the roof. Hayley quickly moved away from the window. The loud noise got the attention of everyone else in the house because all the Dursleys came into the living room to check and see what had caused it. Vernon immediately looked at Hayley, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." She denied, when the sound was heard again. Everyone looked around the ceiling until the sound was heard again. The third time the noise occurred, Hayley looked away from the ceiling and walked over to the fireplace. Again there was banging noise from above, but now Hayley was sure where it was coming from, 'It's coming from the chiminey…' She thought when all of a sudden the bang happened one more time. Seconds later, letters began to pour in to the house from the fireplace. She watched in wonder, as soon she was ankle deep in letters. Hayley couldn't help but smile at the chaos. Everyone was freaking out by all the letters flying out of the fireplace, but she thought it was amusing. She tried to grab one, only to be grabbed by her Uncle. "Hey, let me go!" She called and tried to free herself, but was unsuccessful.

"That's it! We're leaving!" Vernon called to his family and started to carry Hayley out of the house. She tried to hold in her laughter as her Uncle had to virtually swim through the letters to get out. Once they were outside, Dudley and Petunia followed shortly thereafter. "Get in the car!" He commanded, while still carrying Hayley. He threw her in the backseat and quickly jumped into the driver's seat, soon after her Aunt and cousin got in as well. As soon as their doors were shut, Vernon was already speeding out of the driveway.

Hayley looked back at the house and marveled at what had to be around a hundred owls perched around the house.

_At the Dursley vacation house_…

"Why did we have to leave my gameboy?" Dudley whined.

Hayley rolled her eyes, this was probably the first time he didn't get what he wanted _when_ he wanted it. Hayley looked away from them to her Uncle. He looked on edge and honestly it scared her a little. She'd never seen him like that before.

"We'll go back soon, once things die down." Petunia said, trying to reassure her spoiled son.

There was a loud noise outside, causing the Dursleys to jump. Hayley sighed, "It's probably just lightning. It looked like it was going to rain earlier."

Suddenly the door burst open, scaring the all the occupants. Hayley was first to recover from the shock and carefully made her way over to the front door. She looked at the entryway and stumbled back at the silhouette of a huge man standing there, with his hands on his hips. He stood there for a moments, and then entered the small cabin. The huge man walked over to Hayley and extended his hand, "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the keys and groundskeeper at Hogwarts."

She looked confused at his introduction, but reached out and shook the man's hand anyway. "Hayley Potter." She introduced herself as well.

"You've certainly gotten big since I last saw ya. But I guess since you were a baby then…" He said and dropped to a knee, so he didn't tower over her quite as much. He reached behind himself and pulled out a small box, "Happy birthday, Hayley."

The black haired girl smiled. She'd never been wished a happy birthday as far as she could remember and yet this man she didn't even know was wishing her one. She took the offered box, "Thank you." She opened it to see what was inside and smiled even wider when she saw a small cake with 'Happee Birthdae Hayley' written across it. Despite the poor spelling, this cake was the sweetest thing she'd ever been given, though she hadn't been given much previously to this, she definitely never been given a birthday cake.

"I don't know who you are, but you will leave here at once!" Vernon yelled, clearly having recovered from the shock of the door being blown open.

Hagrid stood up and took a step towards Uncle Vernon, making the man cower slightly. "I haven't even gotten started on you!" He said and took a deep breath, "Forcing her to live under the stairs and treating her like a house elf! I'm sure Professor Dumbledore told you to treat her better, far better than you've been at least."

"We gave her a roof over her head, clothes to wear, and food to eat! We've done more than enough!" Vernon Dursley yelled, gaining some courage from somewhere.

Hagrid took a moment to look back at the scrawny girl. She was swimming in a t-shirt that was at least two sizes too big for her. She wore baggy pants that also appeared to be oversized as well and he couldn't be sure due to the loose clothes, but she definitely looked too thin. He was struck by how similar she looked like her father despite being a girl. Her hair was short and black and a bit wild, like her father's. She even had round glasses, though he frowned at their condition. They were clearly poorly repaired on the bridge of her nose. The only thing that wasn't a spitting image of James was her eyes; they were just like her mother's, a striking emerald green. Hayley fidgeted nervously at the large man's stare, she didn't like being studied and that's exactly how she felt. "That's a load of hog wash! She barely has any meat on her bones! I should go straight to Professor Dumbledore and tell him how you've been treating her. He'll set you straight…"

"Everything we did was to prevent this foolishness from happening. We're not about to let her mind be filled that all that rubbish. She is not going to that school for freaks!" Vernon said.

She looked at her Uncle and Aunt is shock, "You knew? You kept all of this from me?"

Petunia scoffed at the girl's questions, "Of course we knew. I still remember when prefect Lily got her letter…oh our parents were _so proud_." She said in disgust before pausing for moment and adding, "But I was the only one to see her for what she really was…a freak."

"How could you talk about my mother like that? She was your sister wasn't she?" Hayley asked as she looked at her Aunt.

"Yes, she was my sister, by blood at least." She said before continuing her earlier rant, "Then she got involved with that Potter guy and then she had you. I just knew you'd be just as strange as her…just as much of a freak. And then just a couple months after you were born, she went and got herself blown up, so we got stuck with you."

Hayley stared at her aunt, "What do you mean 'got blown up'? You told me my parents died in a car accident."

Hagrid looked surprised by what the young girl just said. He turned to the Dursleys, "Why would you disgrace their memories like that? There's no way a car crash would have killed James and Lily."

"Better a car accident than whatever foolish mess they got involved in." Petunia said, not hiding her disgust.

Hagrid was going to go off on the woman, when Hayley spoke up and cooled the large man's temper, "Wh-What really happened to my parents?" She approached him cautiously. She want to know what had been withheld from her, what really happened to put her in their _care_.

The large man's eyes softened as he looked at the young girl before him. He sighed and sat on the chair beside Hayley. "I knew your parents all the way since they attended Hogwarts. They were good people, but back then there was a very bad wizard. They were among a group of wizards who opposed that evil wizard." Hagrid said and paused briefly, before getting to Hayley's question. "All three of you were targeted by him and your parents died protecting you. That is the night you got that scar…" He said and pointed at her forehead.

Hayley stared at the man in shock, it all seemed too fantastical. She reached up and gently touched the lightning bolt shaped scar, she'd always wondered where she got it from and now she knew.

"You're a witch, Hayley. Just like your parents." Hagrid said almost happily. "And I'm here to give you your acceptance in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, since none of our letters were replied to." He said and glared at the Dursleys when he said the last part.

"That's enough! I'll have no more talk of that freak school or that Hayley will be going anywhere of the sort!" Vernon yelled, seemingly gaining some courage again. The large man stood up and approached Hagrid before raising a shotgun at him. Hayley always thought her Uncle was big, but he was dwarfed by the other man.

"Uncle, please don't…"

"Shut up! You will not going anywhere!" Vernon yelled, silencing Hayley quickly.

"That's not your choice. She'll be goin' to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world and she'll be under the guidance of the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had….Albus Dumbledore!" Hagrid said quickly.

"I will not be paying to have some crackpot old fool teach her silly magic tricks!"

Hagrid looked beyond angry by Vernon's least comment, "You will never…insult…Albus Dumbledore…in front of me!" He said furiously and reached out to grab the gun pointed at him. With what looked to be an incredible amount of ease, he crushed the barrel in his hand and broke it completely off. Seeing the gun break was enough to destroy any courage Vernon Dursley had found. He stumbled away and Hagrid pointed at him, "You may consider yourself a strong muggle, but you will not stop Hayley from doing what is her right."

Hayley looked confused at a term she'd never heard before, "Muggle?"

"Non-magical folk." He explained to the young girl. "I'm going to take her to get her school supplies and when she comes back, she will have a proper room and you'll treat her better. Or else." He said and pointed his umbrella at the chair he'd just gotten up from. In a moment the chair was blown smithereens. The young girl jumped back in shock, it was then she realized that wasn't simple umbrella. "Let's go, Hayley." The large man said and offered her his hand. She looked back at the Dursleys for a second before taking the hand in front of her.

Hayley looked up at the giant of a man beside her, "Where are we going, Hagrid?"

"To Diagon Alley of course!" He said cheerfully.

She stared at Hagrid completely confused, "Am I supposed to know what or where that is?"

The large man shook his head, "Sorry, I keep forgettin'." He said and paused for a second, "Diagon Alley is like a wizarding market place. To get there, we have to go to the Leaky Cauldron first, that's in London." He said and usher her out of the house.

* * *

"There it is, the Leaky Cauldron!" Hagrid said and pointed toward a very regular looking building.

Nothing about it drew any attention to it, but maybe that was on purpose. Hagrid and Hayley entered the pub and she could see there was something different about this place, once they were inside. They walked by a man stirring his coffee with spoon he wasn't even touching. They passed someone who likely worked there, cleaning a table with a flick hand. Everyone seemed to be going about their business though and they were passing through without anyone really paying attention to them, until the man behind the bar called over to Hagrid.

"Oh, hi Tom! No time for a drinks unfortunately…on official Hogwarts business." Hagrid said, motioning to the young girl with him.

"Who is your young companion?" Tom asked curiously.

The giant of a man leaned forward and whispered as quietly as he could, "This is Hayley Potter."

"Hayley Potter!" The barkeep said loudly, drawing the attention of all the patrons inside. The entire bar went silent and Hayley unconsciously drew closer to Hagrid, not liking being the center of attention. "Blimey! It's been eleven years already!"

Just then a loud bang resonated throughout the previously quiet pub. Hayley quickly looked around the groundskeeper. She spotted a chair on the ground beside and particular looking man. He was tall and wore a turban around his head.

"S-S-Sorry…" He stuttered as he backed away from the chair.

"Professor Quirrell?"

Hayley looked up at the man next to her, 'He's a Professor?' she thought to herself.

"S-S-So s-s-sorry Hagrid, I n-need to be g-g-going." Professor Quirrell stuttered once again, before rushing out of the Pub.

"It's truly a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Hayley heard the man behind her voice, prompting her to turn and face him once again. She saw that he had his arm extended, so she reached out and shook the man's hand. He seemed nice enough and he seemed to be friends with Hagrid, so that was enough for her.

"We really should be going Tom…loads of supplies to buy." Hagrid said and put his large hand on Hayley's shoulder.

"Oh right, right. I won't be keeping you any longer then." Tom said warmly. Hagrid began to lead the young girl from the pub when the barkeep spoke one more time, "It was a pleasure to have met you, Hayley Potter!"

As they were nearly out of the building, Hayley could hear whispering among the patrons. She frowned and looked up at the large man, "They're talking about me aren't they?"

He nodded, "They are." He confirmed and looked at his charge, frowning. "You are quiet famous. You ended You-know-who's reign of terror. I know you don't remember, but the whole wizarding world knows and so they all know you, at least by name."

'You-know-who?' She questioned herself, but the problem was, she didn't know. She simply nodded her head slightly, 'I still don't like people talking about me behind my back…' She thought but remained silent. 'I'll have to ask him who You-know-who is…' She thought but she continued to follow the man in front of her until they came upon a brick wall. "Umm…Hagrid why are we at a dead end?"

Hagrid smiled, "Just watch." He said and lifted his umbrella to the wall. He began tapping several different bricks before he lowered his arm. After a moment, Hayley could hear a grinding sound followed by the brinks before them starting to move. She watched in wonder and the bricks shifted positions until they reformed into an entryway. "Let's go." Hagrid said and started to enter the passageway, followed closely behind by the much smaller girl.

A thought struck Hayley as they entered a completely new area. Diagon Alley. "Hagrid, I don't have any money to buy any of my school supplies."

"That's why we need to go to Gringotts. Did you think your parents wouldn't make sure you were taken care of?"

Hayley shook her head, "I'm not really sure what to think…this is all new to me." She said and paused for a moment, "What is Gringotts?"

"Oh, yeah I should 'ave explained that. It's a wizarding bank." He said and pointed ahead. "It's that large building up there." They continued in silence until they reached the bank. "I'll tell ya, the bank is run by goblins. They're a mean and conniving folk, but because of their ways and the security measures they have in place that makes Gringotts the second safest place in the world."

Hayley couldn't help up ask, "What's the safest place then?"

"Hogwarts, of course." He said before pushing open the doors to the bank.

They both entered the bank together, Hagrid keeping his head forward, but Hayley couldn't stop herself from looking at the goblins that lined each side of aisle they walked down. They seemed to be absorbed in their paperwork in front of them, but all of them still looked angry for some reason. She looked forward and saw a particularly angry looking goblin sitting at a large desk. When they reached the desk, the goblin sitting there addressed them.

"What is your business at Gringotts today?"

"Ms. Potter needs to make a withdrawal." Hagrid answered quickly.

The goblin seemed to ignore the large man and looked over to Hayley, "And does Ms. Potter have her key?"

There was silence for a few moments before the giant of a man spoke. "Ah…yes…I've got it here somewhere…." He said and began to reach into several pockets before he said, "Ah ha…here we are." He said and handed the key to the goblin.

He looked over the key for a moment, "Everything seems to be in order." He said and started to get up when Hagrid spoke once more.

"And also…" The large man reached into his over coat, pulling out an envelope. "This is from Dumbledore. It's about the…you know what in the…you know where." The goblin looked over the letter briefly and gave a quick nod before getting up and ushering them to follow. He led them down a hall until they reached a cart sitting on a monorail. Hagrid was already getting on board when he motioned for Hayley to join him.

She looked over the cart warily before stepping on board. She had just sat down when she felt a jerk forward. Hayley grabbed the railing in front of her as tightly as she could when the vehicle began to move. In seconds it was moving incredibly fast, so fast it didn't seem like it was very safe. Jagged rocks flew by as the zoomed along the rail, but they kept descending. It felt like they were never going to reach her vault, where ever it was. All of a sudden, though they came to a quick stop.

"Here we are Miss Potter." The goblin said and opened to the door.

Hayley stepped off the machine that took them to her vault, vault 687. She stumbled a little when she finally stepped on solid ground, but held on to the cart to maintain her balance. After taking a deep breath she took a step away from the vehicle that took them to her vault, she was happy to know her feet were much steadier now. She approached the vault slowly, until she reached the entrance. Her jaw dropped. The vault was full of coins as far as her eyes could see. She didn't know anything about the denominations of each so she looked over her shoulder and called to her companion, "Hagrid!"

The large man quickly made his way over and looked around to see if something was wrong. When he didn't see anything, he looked at the girl curiously.

"Is this right? This is really all mine?" Hayley asked in wonder.

"Yep. Your parents made sure that you were provided for."

Hayley shook her head, "I don't know what to take. I don't have any idea of how much I'll need."

Hagrid smiled and pointed to one pile of money, "Those are knuts." He then pointed to a pile of silver coins, "Those are sickles, twenty nine knuts equal one sickle." He then pointed to another pile of coins, the largest pile, "Those are galleons. Seventeen sickles or four hundred and ninety three knuts make one galleon." He said and paused for moment to think, "I'd say a sack of galleons and sickles with a handful of knuts should be more than enough." He then handed the young girl a sack to put the coins in.

Hayley nodded and took the offer bag. She quickly filled it with the desired coins. "Okay, I'm ready." She said and walked out of the vault with Hagrid.

They both were in the cart when the giant smiled warily at the young girl, "We have to go to one more vault before we can return to the surface." He said, obviously noticing her discomfort with the ride down so far.

Hayley simply nodded, but before she could say anything the vehicle jerked forward and they were zooming forward again. Fortunately, this ride down didn't seem quite as long and at least she knew what to anticipate, unlike before. When they came to a stop this time, the goblin guiding them down, told them to stay where they were. Hayley took this opportunity to investigate where they were this time. The number by the vault read, 713. 'The numbers must increase as we descend.' She theorized, but it also made her wonder exactly how many vaults there were and how deep they went down. She saw the goblin approach the door and bring out a dagger. She winced as he cut his hand and rubbed it on the door.

As soon as his hand touched the door, it began to dissolve, revealing the room. It was extremely small compared to her vault. It didn't appear to have anything inside expect for a stone bench with a small sack sitting on it. The goblin went inside and retrieved the small sack before returning to the cart and handing it over to Hagrid.

"It would be best if you kept this to yourself, Hayley." The giant of a man said and tucked the small bag into an inner pocket of his jacket.

"Okay." Hayley said quietly, though she couldn't deny that she was extremely curious about what Hagrid took from vault 713. She didn't know if she was getting used to riding the 'machine from hell', as she dubbed it, but the ride back to lobby of Gringotts didn't seem too bad. Having gotten what they came for the pair left the bank.

"I'll go get some of your basic supplies, your cauldron, parchment, quills, and the sort. You should go to Madarn Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, for your school robes." Hagrid said and pointed to a building just down the way.

Hayley nodded and slowly made her way to the shop. She stepped inside and looked around, "Anybody here?" She had barely asked her question when a woman appeared behind the counter.

The woman looked her over for a moment before saying, "First year at Hogwarts?" Hayley simply nodded, "Right then. I'll be back in a moment." She said and disappeared, only to appear again just a couple seconds later with a box.

Hayley took the box and put it down one the table beside her and opened it to see exactly what the woman gave her. As she removed each article of clothing, she thought of how they looked like any other school uniform she'd seen. She frowned however when she pulled out a skirt. She held the skirt in her hands and looked over to the lady who handed her the articles of clothing, "Do I really have to wear a skirt?" She asked.

The woman looked at her strangely, "The girl's uniform includes a skirt. The boy's has slacks."

She frowned, "Is it against the rules for girls to wear pants?"

"Well…no, but…"

"Then let me have the pants." Hayley said and handed the older lady back the skirt she had just given her. She'd always been forced to wear hand me downs for her cousin, so she'd never had the opportunity to wear a skirt and honestly she didn't really have a desire to, she was comfortable in pants. The woman took the skirt, but still shook her head slightly. She walked away but she was barely gone before she returned.

"Here you are."

Hayley took the clothes and gave the woman coin in exchange, "Thank you." She said and was about to leave when she heard a snicker behind her. She turned around to see who it was and came face to face with a young boy who had to be about her age. The boy had blond hair and was slicked back with what looked to be entirely too much hair gel. He had a crooked smile on his face that made him look smug to her. "Is something funny?"

He laughed again, "No. But you are strange."

She glared at him when he said that, "I am not strange…I just prefer pants."

"What's your name?" The boy asked, changing the subject.

"Tell me yours first." She countered.

He snickered again, annoying Hayley, "Draco. Draco Malfoy."

She was actually surprised that he actually told her, so she did the same, "Hayley. Hayley Potter." She said and extended her hand.

Draco didn't do anything immediately. He just stared at the offered hand for several seconds, before he eventually shook it. Once they separated Draco said, "Potter, huh? First year at Hogwarts?" He asked and got a slow nod. "Well let me tell you something then…" He paused before adding, "There are two sorts of wizards, be sure you choose the right sort to hang around with." He said before quickly departing the shop.

His statement left Hayley completely confused, but after just a few seconds of thought she shook it off and exited the shop as well. As soon as she was back on the street, she saw Hagrid just a short distance away from the shop. She walked over to him and pulled out her school list. She looked over the items she needed, her eyes were drawn to the one in particular, "I need a wand."

"You'll want to head to Ollivander's for that. He has the best wand shop there is." He said and once again pointed her in the direction she needed to go. "Give me your robes. I have one more place to go, but I'll meet you outside Ollivander's when you're done."

"Okay." Hayley said with a quick nod and made her way over to the wand shop.

As soon as she entered the old building it looked empty. There looked to be millions of boxes on shelves from the floor to the ceiling. She walked further inside and looked around, "H-Hello, is anyone here?" She said, but no more than a second later she found herself jumping back in fright as and a disheveled old man appeared from behind a shelf.

"Miss Potter…I've been waiting for you."

Hayley stepped back until she tripped over a stack of boxes on the ground, landing on her bottom. The old man approached her until he stood over her, "Wh-What do you want?" She asked and filched as he extended his hand toward her.

"Calm yourself girl. I'm Ollivander and this is my shop." He said and continued to hold his hand out until she took it. He pulled her to her feet, but didn't immediately let go of her hand. Instead, he turned it over and inspected it before he turned it palm side up, examining her palm extensively. Hayley thought for a moment that he was going say something about her future like a phony psychic, but he did nothing of the sort. Once he released her hand, he made his way over to a shelf not too far away and pulled out a box. He opened it and pulled out a wand from it and handed it to Hayley. She looked at him with a confused expression, "Well, give it a flick…" The wandmaker said and watched.

Hayley shrugged her shoulders and did as she was told. Upon giving the wand a quick flick, several boxes flew off the shelves, surprising her and making her drop the wand.

"Nope, not that one." Ollivander said and was off to grab another box before she could even ask what happened.

She quickly crouched down and picked up the wand she'd dropped. She placed the wooden object on the desk in front her. By that time, she already had a new wand being handed to her. She did as she did before, only this time instead of sending boxes off the shelves, she blew up the lamp across the room. She didn't drop the wand this time, this time she carefully placed it on the desk, a little worried about causing further damage with it.

"Definitely not that one." Ollivander said and walked a short distance away. He found his hand drawn to one box and pulled it down. He looked at the box and read the wand contained inside, 'Holly…eleven inches…Phoenix feather…' He looked over to Hayley for a moment before whispering, "I wonder…" He quickly made his way back to the young girl and handed her the wand.

Hayley was a little concerned as to what may happen with this one, after the first two, but as soon as her fingers touched the wood, she could tell there was an immediate difference from this one to the others. It was visually different than the others as well because rather than exploding anything, the wand emitted gold and red sparks.

"Curious…most curious indeed…" Ollivander thought aloud, drawing Hayley's attention.

"I'm sorry, but what's curious sir?" She asked.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, every one. It just so happens that the Phoenix who gave its feather in your wand also gave one other…and only one other. That wand, your wand's 'brother' is the very same wand to that gave you that scar." The old man said in wonder.

Hearing what the wandmaker said only brought one question into her head that had been in there since she learned the true fate of her parents, "What is his name, the owner of the other wand?"

The old man shook his head slightly, "I…can not say the name. I will say that the wand choices the wizard, that is how it has always been. I think if its 'brother' is any indication, we can expect great things from you. For He-who-must-not-be-named did great things…truly terrible things, but great nonetheless."

Hayley simply nodded, "How much?"

"Seven Galleons." Ollivander replied.

Hayley reached into her sack of coins and pulled out a handful. She picked through them until she found seven gold pieces. She handed the old man the money for her wand and put the remainder back in her sack. "Thank you." She muttered before making her way out of the building. She wasn't really paying attention to where she was heading, because her thoughts were on the man who she'd yet to hear the name of, man who killed her parents. 'I'll have to ask Hagrid…he'll tell me.' She thought, when she heard a booming voice call her name.

"Hayley! Come 'ere!"

The black haired girl looked up and saw Hagrid a little in front of her. She looked at him curiously because he appeared to be hiding something behind his back. "Hey Hagrid! What do you have there?"

A big smile appeared on the man's face as he revealed a bird cage with a stunning white owl inside.

"Wow…she's beautiful…" Hayley said as she admired the snow white owl.

"I'm glad you like 'er, cause she's yours." Hagrid said and handed the cage over to the young girl.

"I-I couldn't…" Hayley said quietly.

The large man shook his head as he said, "Nonsense. She's my birthday present to you."

At the large man's statement her eyes filled with tears and she quickly hugged him. Her arms don't even make it half way around the large body she was hugging, but she held him tightly anyway, burying her face the large man's clothes. "Thank you." She said softly, although Hagrid still heard her.

Hagrid patted the young girl's back softly, "We should be heading back, it's getting late."

Hayley nodded and released the giant sized man, before he took her hand and lead her from Diagon Alley.

End Ch.2

* * *

Well that's done far quicker than I can remember doing chapter in a long time. This chapter is more similar to how all future chapter will be than the first chapter, which was more of a prologue than anything. If it wasn't obvious enough by this update, I plan on continuing this. The next chapter will definitely take longer than this one did because I want to finish the next chapter of 'Our Fuure' first.

I don't normally reply to reviews in the story, because it is technically against the rules, but I will this time…

**Middlen, **I hope this one can live up to my SM stories, because I've learned a lot from writing them.

**Bunnies Galore,** Thank you for your interest. The impacts of gender change is something I look forward to exploring. Also, I will do my very best with this and I can promise an epic story at the very least. I like to write and put my all into everything I write.

**Just Passerby**, yes it is my intention to go all the way through Deathly Hallows (maybe even beyond). I fully anticipate this will be _very_ long upon completion; my calculations put the word count somewhere around 700,000 words, likely even more though. I enjoy writing long stories though. The first two books won't take a large amount of time to get through, but from Prisoner of Azkaban onward, those will take some time. I find long stories fun to write, more so than one shots. You can weave a story so much better if it is longer. Also, yes, there are so few yuri stories in HP fandom, especially compared to yaoi…of course there are so many more possibilities for yaoi than yuri, which would explain that.


	3. Hogwarts Express

~~**~~  
Chapter 3 – Hogwarts Express  
~~**~~

Hayley walked beside Hagrid as they reached to the Leaky Cauldron again.

"Have you thought of a name for her yet?" Hagrid asked warmly.

The black haired girl lifted up the cage and looked at the snowy owl inside. After a few moments she lowered the cage and looked back to Hagrid, "I'm not sure. What's a proper name for an owl?"

The large man laughed, "I'm not sure owls are named much different than we are." He said with a smile.

"Oh…well, I'll just have to think about what she looks like." She said and began to set her mind to think of a name for her owl. 'Lucie…Penny…Willow…Snowy…' She thought, but after a few moments she shook her head, 'None of those fit her at all.'

"Hayley, do you think you can take a seat while I grab something to drink?" Hagrid asked and placed all the packages he'd been holding onto the nearest table.

The dark haired girl nodded and took a seat in the stool, placing the cage with her owl in it on the stool beside her. The large man nodded and walked over to the same bartender who was there when they arrived earlier. She looked back to her owl and asked, "What do you think I should name you?"

_Hoot _

Hayley laughed at the response, "You're a smart girl aren't you?"

_Hoot_

She laughed again, "Well I'm going to give you a great name…I just don't know what it is yet." She said and looked forward. Her eyes fell on a stack of books among the stuff Hagrid had been carrying. She leaned forward and grabbed the book on the top of the stack. She turned it over and read the front cover, 'A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot, Second Edition. That sounds interesting…' She thought as she opened the book, glancing over the table of contents before jumping to the first chapter. She skimmed over the words, but after a few flipping through the first couple pages, she realized the book was far less interesting than she had originally thought it would be. Hayley still gave it a chance though. After another page, she found herself on the verge of closing the book, when a name popped out at her. She looked at her owl and back the word on the page, before looking back the snowy owl once again, "I think it suits you." She said and closed the book. "What do you think of Hedwig?"

_Hoot Hoot_

Hayley smiled at the happy hooting coming from her owl, "I'm glad you like it." She looked back at the book, "At least this has been good for something. Hopefully it'll get better in the later chapters."

"How are ya doing over here?"

Hayley looked up and smiled when she saw Hagrid take a seat across from her and place an over-sized beer mug on the table. "Good. I finally got a name for her." She said happily.

"Whatcha gonna call her?" Hagrid asked.

"Hedwig…"

_Hoot_

"And she likes it." She said with another large smile, she honestly couldn't remember smiling this much ever.

"I'm glad, it's a good name." He said and took large gulp from his mug.

Now that her large companion was with her again, she found her mind going back to the man who killed her parents. Though in actuality he had never really left her thoughts completely since she learned the real cause of her parents deaths. The man whose name no one seemed to want to say. She took a deep breath and looked up to large man in front of her, "So, Hagrid…can I ask you something?"

Hagrid put down his nearly empty drink and smiled, "Sure, ya can. What did ya want to ask?"

Hayley mentally steeled herself as she asked, "The man who killed my parents…I noticed…no one seems to say his name. So, can you tell me his name?"

The giant of a man turned white at the young girl's request, "I…I…understand ya wantin' to know, but it's a bit of taboo to say his name." He paused, causing the girl across from him to nod. After a moment he continued, "But you more so than anybody else has a right to know." He took a deep breath before beginning again, "I'll only say this name once, so please don't ask me to repeat it. His name is Vol…Vold…" He started to say but paused once again.

"If it's hard for you to say, why not write it out?" Hayley asked.

"Nah, I wouldn't be able to spell it." He said and took one more deep breath before finally say, "Voldemort…that was his name."

"Voldemort." Hayley repeated, causing the man before her to noticeably wince.

"Just don't go around saying that name. It's still a reminder of everything **he** did." The large man explained.

"What happened to him?" She asked curiously.

"Well, story goes that you defeated him that night." He said and looked her straight in the eyes.

She could see he wasn't lying when he said that, but she still couldn't help but stare at him strangely, "But I was just a baby…"

"His killing curse bounced off of you and hit him instead. So, he couldn't kill you for some reason." Hagrid explained.

Hayley nodded slowly. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question, but she felt she needed to ask, "So, is he dead then?"

There was a long pause before he answered, "That I don't know, but hearin' Dumbledore talk, he doesn't believe he is dead. He doesn't think there was enough human left in him to die, and I have to say he's right."

Once again, Hayley gave him a slow nod. 'If he isn't dead…what exactly does that mean…'

Before she could finish her thought, Hagrid stood up, "Well now we really need to be headin' back. I only meant to stop in 'ere for short bit an' we've been a little longer than I wanted. So, let's be on our way."

"Okay." Hayley said quietly.

* * *

They arrived outside the number 4 Privet Drive when Hagrid said, "Oh, before I forget. Here's the train information. This is the train that'll take ya to Hogwarts." Hagrid said and handed Hayley a paper. She took the paper and read it over quickly. "Remember Hayley, September 1st at King's Cross Station in London. Platform 9 ¾. You must be on the train by 11 am sharp."

Hayley nodded and hugged the large man as best she could, "I won't forget. Thank you for all your help today and thank you much for Hedwig!"

"Aww, 'swas nothing." The large man said with a wide smile, "I'll see ya when you get to Hogwarts." He said before starting to walk away but stopped after a couple steps, "Oh, also…now that yah 'ave a wand, you can't be doin' any magic while you are at home. You can only do magic at Hogwarts."

"Okay, thank you again." Hayley said and gave him another quick nod.

Hagrid gave her a wide smile once more, "See yah in 'bout a month, Hayley."

"Yeah, see you then." She said and bent down to pick all of her school supplies. When she stood back up, the giant of a man, who was just with her, was gone. She shook her head slightly and chalked his sudden disappearance to her new found knowledge that magic was in fact real. She now began to haul all of her supplies to her house. When she reached the door, she gave a couple knocks, not entirely sure what to expect. Would the Dursleys even let her in? She waited about a minute before she knocked again. After a few more seconds, she heard the door being unlocked.

"Oh, it's you…" Vernon said less than happily.

"Yes. This is where I live, isn't it?" Hayley asked.

"Unfortunately." The large man said and stepped aside, barely giving her enough room to get inside. Hayley dragged in all of her stuff and was about to go in to the small crawl space under the stairs, when her Uncle's voice stopped her. "No, upstairs."

The black haired girl turned and looked back him, unsure if she misheard him. "Wh-What?"

"Upstairs, I said." Uncle Vernon said in an irritated tone.

Hayley decided not to say anything else and simply head up stairs, quickly followed by her Uncle. Once they reached the top, he pointed to a room, which she knew belonged to Dudley. More precisely it was her cousin's second bedroom, where all his old and broken toys were stored. She cautiously stepped toward the room, not sure what to expect. She opened the door and was surprised to see all of Dudley's old toys had been cleared out leaving the room nearly empty aside from a bed. She turned back, "What is this?"

A frown appeared on her Uncle's face as he said, "A room."

"But why?" Hayley persisted.

"Can't you just be grateful?" He shot back.

She stared at him for a short time before she recalled the last time, she'd seen him. She remembered the threats levied on him by Hagrid and then she realized why he'd given her something he'd never seen a reason to give her before now, a real bedroom. "Thanks." She said, before making her way back down the stairs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Vernon asked as the young girl walked pasted him.

"To get Hedwig." Hayley quickly replied and hurried to retrieve her owl.

"What in blazes is Hedwig?"

Hayley quickly returned with Hedwig in her cage and showed her Uncle, "My owl."

Vernon looked at the bird in disgust, "You have one of those foul creatures."

Hayley quickly put the cage behind her back protectively, "She is not a foul creature. She is beautiful and she was a present."

"From who?" Uncle Vernon growled.

"Hagrid." Hayley said simply, causing her Uncle to turn pale. From the look on his face, he did indeed remember the large man very well.

"Fine, have you filthy owl, but the rest of you stuff will remain locked up downstairs." He huffed and stormed down the stairs.

Even though the rest of her belongings were going to be out of her reach, Hayley felt as though she had achieved a small victory over her Uncle.

* * *

The remainder of the month passed by without further event; in fact, the Dursleys all seemed to ignore her and not even acknowledge her existence. Eventually she was forced to interact with them, because September 1st was only a day away and she needed a way to get to King's Cross in London…

Hayley approached her Uncle and Aunt as they watched the tele in the living room. "Umm…Uncle Vernon?"

The large man grunted, but didn't actually say anything. She took that as for her to continue so she did, "I need to get to King's Cross tomorrow…to go to Hogwarts." She said and received another grunt. "I wanted to ask if you can give me a ride?" She said and once more merely got of grunt of the man, but she took it to be a yes, so she turned to leave when her Aunt spoke.

"Funny way for wizards to go to school a _train_…I would think brooms would be more your kind's mode of travel." Aunt Petunia said and snorted afterward.

Hayley decided to ignore her remarks and continue upstairs to her room, when her Uncle spoke this time.

"Where is the freak school of yours anyway?"

Hayley stopped and thought for a moment. That question had never come up when she spoke to Hagrid, even though thinking back it probably would have been a good question to ask him. "I don't know."

"How do you even know what train to take then?" Uncle Vernon said, chuckling as he spoke.

"My train ticket says Platform 9 ¾, so I'll just get on the train there." Hayley said quickly, but really she was beginning to doubt herself. Her Aunt and Uncle didn't do her any favors by bursting into laughter as soon as she said the platform she needed to be on.

"What kind of rubbish is that?" Uncle Vernon asked, making no attempt to stifle his laughing.

"That's what my ticket says." She retorted.

"Your lot is barking mad!" He said yelled, but took a deep breath to say, "I'll take you to King's Cross and you'll see. We have to go to London anyway to pick up a couple last minute things for Dudley anyway."

Hayley looked at her Uncle for a moment longer, but just continued up to her room. Mentally she was yelling at herself for not asking more questions to Hagrid when she had the chance.

* * *

As soon as he came to a stop the large man stepped out of the car and lugged her trunk out of the car. He put her trunk on to one the carts the station provided. Hayley was confused by her Uncle's kindness. She half expected him to just let her out and not give any kind of assistance. Her confusion was answered when her Uncle leaned down next to her window and with a nasty grin said, "Here we are…platform nine…and ten. Curious…your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but it's not here. Maybe they haven't built it yet?"

Hayley looked out the window and clear saw the signs for platform nine and for platform ten, but didn't see anything kind of signs for the platform she was looking for, platform 9 ¾.

"Well, get out." Uncle Vernon said and opened the door with a laugh.

Hayley stepped out slowly and examined the train platforms more than she could from the car. There was no indication of any platform aside from nine and ten. She was brought out of her examination of the train station by her Uncle.

"Have a good first term." He said with a nasty smile, before speeding off.

She glared at the car as it drove away, but eventually her thoughts traveled back to how she was going to get to school. She noticed a large clock a short distance away. It read 10:35. She needed to do something, the train was going to leave an eleven, and she was quickly running out of time. 'I need to ask someone how to get on to Platform 9 ¾.' She thought and looked around to try and find someone that worked at the station. Eventually her eyes fell on a guard that a woman was talking to. She caught the end of their conversation…

"…take a left at that sign and then just head straight."

"Thank you."

Hayley watched the woman walk away for a second before quickly stepping up, "E-Excuse me…"

The guard crouched down, so he was closer to eye level with her as he spoke, "How can I help you?"

"Could you direct me to Platform 9 ¾?" She asked hopefully.

The guard stood up and suddenly he didn't look friendly anymore. He looked more like her Uncle, "What kind of rubbish are you talking about? Get out of here kid!"

Hayley sulked away and felt like crawling under a rock. That guard looked at her like she was crazy and she couldn't deny that she was starting to doubt her own sanity. 'Could this have been some elaborate trick?' She asked herself and looked around. 'Platform 9 ¾…how did I even think such a thing existed…' She thought and lowered her head.

"It's like this every year, packed with Muggles."

Suddenly a word caught her ears, Muggles. It was a word she'd only recently learned, the word meant non-magical folk. She quickly looked up and spotted a group of red heads being led by the same voice who said Muggles. She quickly grabbed her cart that had all her things and ran after the group. She caught up with them in a few moments, because the entire group had stopped as well, right at the pillar that read 10 on one side and 9 on the other. 'What are they going to do?' She thought to herself.

"Percy, you first." The round woman said and the tallest of the boys pushed his cart of luggage straight towards the pillar.

Hayley watched in shock as he ran at the brick without any fear. She covered her mouth when he reached the wall, but to her surprise he simply passed right through, as though there was nothing there at all. When she thought about it though, it shouldn't have come as a surprise at all, but still seemed unbelievable.

"Ok, you're next Fred." The woman said and patted another one of the boys on the back.

The boy started toward the pillar as the other boy did, but stopped and looked back, "I'm George by the way. Honestly woman, you call yourself our mother…"

She shook her head, "Oh, sorry about that George."

"Only joking, I am Fred." He said before continuing through the false wall of brick.

The older woman sighed and shook her head again, "George, you're up."

He laughed at his mother for a moment before he ran forward, like his brothers had already done.

When the woman turned to the smallest boy, a voice asked, "Why can't I go with them, mum?" Hayley couldn't really see from her vantage point, but the voice sounded feminine from what she could tell.

"You're not old enough yet. You still have a year left before you can go with them." The woman explained.

Hayley watched the family with a smile. They acted just like she would have imagined a family would. There was no animosity between them and seeing them interact with each other really made her wish she had that. She really felt like she had missed something through her life. She took a deep breath and took a step towards the family. She felt so lost until she saw them, but she also felt incredibly stupid for not knowing how to get on to platform 9 ¾ and felt guilty for watching them, but she also knew she'd have to ask them if there was some secret to passing the barrier or risk missing the train. That was something that she couldn't let happen, "Ex-Excuse me, but could you tell me…"

The trio turned around and looked at Hayley, causing her to shuffle her feet nervously. Hayley was able to see the other person with them was in fact a girl, but she shared a number of the same traits as her brothers, the red hair stood out immediately. She felt uncomfortable under their stares, even though they only seemed to be looking at her with curiosity more than anything. She took another step forward as she spoke again, "How do you get to Platform 9 ¾?"

"Is this your first time honey?" The round woman asked kindly.

Hayley nodded her head, "Y-Yes, it is."

"Oh, well it's Ronald's first time too." She said and motioned to the red headed boy to her left. Hayley gave him a slight wave, which he returned. "What your name, honey?"

"Hayley. Hayley Potter." She replied quickly.

The woman's eyes widened, her son, Ron, who hadn't really given her much thought was now staring at her, making her feel a little uncomfortable. The young girl, who had previously been hidden behind her mother's legs, was now looking at her with an awed expression, though she was still mostly hidden behind her mother. "Well, that is something…" The woman said and paused for a second, "Oh where are my manners, I haven't even introduced myself. Molly Weasley. I've already introduced Ronald and this is Ginerva." She said and urged the young girl behind her forward.

The young girl looked horrified when she was placed in front of her mother. She looked like she'd rather be anywhere, but there at the moment. Hayley wasn't sure if she was the reason for the girl's current feelings or if it was something else, but she felt sorry for her nonetheless.

The young red head turned to her mother, "Ginny, Mum."

"And you know I prefer Ron, Mum." The boy beside the older woman said.

"When you introduce yourself, you should always use your full name, not a nickname." Mrs. Weasley told her children. She looked over to Hayley once again and extended her hand, "It's really nice to meet you."

Hayley reached out and shook the woman's hand. "I'm glad I met someone who doesn't think I'm crazy." She said and smiled slightly. "Is there some kind of trick to get on to Platform 9 ¾?"

"Oh yes, Platform 9 ¾, it's very simple dear. You only need to walk between Platform 9 and 10." She explained and pointed at the brick pillar Hayley had already seen her children go through, but she didn't say that. "Since this is your first time, I recommend getting a running start." Mrs. Weasley said and gave her a warm smile.

Hayley nodded and gripped her cart tightly before charging forward. Just before she was to hit the wall she closed her eyes. She half expected to be turned away from by the pillar, but she didn't feel anything, so she quickly opened her eyes. "Wow…" She said in amazement as she took in the transformed train station. She stepped forward slowly and stared at the red and black train that had the words, 'Hogwarts Express' written across the first compartment in gold letters. She glanced around the train station and saw it looked very similar to the one she had just left. There were people bustling about all around her, all getting ready to board the single train at the station.

There were students all over the place pushing carts just like she was, many had owls and many others had cats of all sorts of colors. The birds seemed to be enjoying the commotion because there was a lot of hooting back and forth between them.

She walked alongside the train and looked over the train some more. As far as she could tell the first two compartments were already full of students, so there wasn't any reason to even try to find a spot on them. She continued walking down the platform, over hearing a conversation with a boy and his grandmother.

"Gram…I can't find Trevor." A young boy said worriedly.

"Oh…_Neville_." The elderly woman said and gave an exasperated sigh.

She didn't really pay them any mind though as she continued trying to find an empty or at least a near empty compartment.

* * *

"What held you up?" George asked, prompting Ron to point forward, toward a young black haired kid staring at the train. "Who is that?"

"Hayley Potter." Ron said the wonder evident in his voice.

"Pretty scrawny isn't he?" Fred commented.

"Manners, Fred." Mrs. Weasley quickly reprimanded.

"That's mean, Fred." Ginny scolded as well.

"I can't be mean if it's the truth." George countered.

Mrs. Weasley looked at her bickering children, "That's enough." She said and turned to the tallest boy, "Percy, why don't you direct Hayley?" He nodded and walked over to the young kid in question. She looked back to her other children, "Ron, good luck with your first term."

The young red headed boy smiled, "Thanks mum."

Mrs. Weasley then turned her attention to her twins, "Would it be too much to ask that I don't receive any owls from school this year?"

"Come on mum, you'd think something happened to us otherwise." Fred said quickly, causing his mother to sigh and shake her head.

"I want to go too Mum." Ginny said and tugged on her mother's arm.

"Ginny, we've already gone over this. Next year you'll be going." Molly said again.

"Don't worry Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." Fred said, trying to cheer up his sister.

"We'll even send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." George said in a hushed tone.

"You'll do no such thing, George." Mrs. Weasley told the twins. "Now get on board, before you're late."

"Yes, mother." The two boys said in unison.

After taking a couple steps toward the train, George turned around and motioned over his shoulder, "We'll at least get you an autograph." Ginny looked confused initially, until she looked where her bother was pointing and turned a light shade of pink and looking down.

"You are a fan, right?" Fred said with a smile.

Ginny quickly looked up, "N-No."

"Sure." The twins said together.

"Just get on board boys." Mrs. Weasley told them.

* * *

Finally when she reached the next to last compartment she found one that was empty, which was exactly what she was looking for. She grabbed Hedwig's cage and ran it inside first. She returned outside and position her cart, so she could pull it up the steps up to the train. She grabbed it tightly and pulled as hard as she could, but was only successful in lifting the heavy cart off the ground a couple inches. She took a deep breath and tried again, but didn't do much better the second time. 'How am I supposed to get this up here?' she asked herself and tried to think of a better way to go about things when she saw one of the boys with Mrs. Weasley approaching her. This was the first time she saw him from the front and now that she did, she noticed he was wearing a silver patch on his black robes with a capital 'P' embroidered on it.

"Would you like some help with that?" The red head asked.

"Yes, thank you." Hayley said quickly and grabbed one side of the cart's handle while Percy grabbed the other. After a few pulls they successfully brought the cart on to the train.

The older boy extended his hand, "The name is Percy Weasley. I'm a prefect."

Hayley stared at him curiously, apparently she was supposed to know what that meant, but she had no idea, so she just went with, "Okay…thanks."

"Now that you are situated I have to head to my car." Percy said and was off without another word.

Hayley shrugged and sat down next to the window and got comfortable. 'This is really happening.' She thought to herself gleefully, when the compartment door slid open.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He asked as he stuck his head inside.

Hayley recognized him as the youngest Weasley boy, Ron. "Don't you want to sit with your brothers?"

"Nah, I spend enough time with them already." He said quickly.

She just shrugged her shoulders then, "Okay, if you want to."

He smiled and took a seat across from her. "I'm Ron, but I guess my mum already told you that."

"Yeah…" She started to say when the door suddenly opened again. This time it was the Weasley twins.

"Hey Ron." The boys said together.

"Word has it that Lee Jordan has a huge tarantula, so we're going to check it out." One of the boys said, Hayley wasn't entire sure which one.

"Okay." Ron mumbled.

Before leaving the two boys turned to Hayley, "You're Hayley Potter, right?" One of them asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, I am." She had a feeling this question was going to coming up again and again.

"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, but I'm Fred…" One of the twins said.

"And I'm George. We'd like say hi and anything our mum may have said about us isn't true." George said with a smile.

"Actually, whatever she may have said is probably true." Fred corrected.

George conceded with a nod, "Well, we'll see both of you when we get to Hogwarts."

"Hope you get into Gryffindor, Hayley!" Fred said before the twins made an abrupt departure.

Hayley smiled at them and watched the door for a few more seconds, even though she didn't really know what they meant about Gryffindor. Eventually she felt like she was being stared at. She turned back to Ron, but he quickly looked away, only making his staring more obvious as a result. "Do I have something on my face?" She asked and almost laughed at the irony because the red head had a smug of something black on his nose.

It took him a few seconds to turn back to her, but eventually he finally did. "So…do you have it?" He said and pointed at her head.

Hayley looked at the red haired boy strangely, "Have _what_ exactly?"

Ron gulped and craned his neck to look around her face, making her feel uncomfortable, "Th-The scar…"

"Oh…yeah" She said and brushed back her bangs to reveal the lightning bolt scar on her forehead.

"So that's where You-know-who cursed.."

She nodded, "Yeah, but I don't really remember."

"Really…nothing." He said, sounding a little disappointed.

Hayley nodded her head again, "Yep. I mean I thought about ever since I was told, and the earliest memory I can recall is a flash of green. So, that may have something to do with it, but I'm not too sure." Ron nodded in understanding. Hayley thought it was a good time to change subjects, "So, is everyone in your family a wizard?"

"Yep, as far as I know at least. Actually, I think mum may have a cousin or something that isn't but that's it." He explained and paused for a moment, "So, you live with Muggles, right?"

"Yeah, with my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin. They're horrible…well they are, not all Muggles." She corrected herself and added, "I wish I had magical brothers or sisters, like you."

"It's not all that great. I'm the sixth son to go to Hogwarts and next year Ginny will go, she's the only girl in our family." Ron explained.

'I feel sorry for her, always surround by boys, except her mother.' Hayley thought as she tried imagine being in that position.

Ron continued without knowledge of his companion's thoughts, "Bill and Charlie have already graduated. Percy is in his fifth year and Fred and George are both in their third year. All of them have done well in school, so I have to live up to that. Plus, everything I get is hand me downs, even Scabbers here." He said and pulled a large rat out from his jacket.

"I know about hand me downs..." She said and stood up. "Everything I'm wearing was my cousin's, even though everything is too big, I still get his stuff. And until I met Hagrid, I didn't even know this world existed. I didn't know anything about my parents or Voldemort…" Ron gasped, causing her to stop. "What is it?"

"You said You-know-who's name!" He exclaimed.

"He killed my parents Ron. I think I have a right to call him whatever I want." She and paused when she received a surprised look. "I'm not trying to be brave or anything, I just don't really know these things." She said and paused, "If you prefer, I'll try to not say his name." She looked over to Ron, who gave her a nod. "Okay, I'll try." She said and took this moment to look outside.

After a short time, the door slid open once again, but this time it wasn't a student, it was an old lady pushing a cart. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Got sandwiches." Ron mumbled.

Hayley hadn't had breakfast or lunch so she was starving, so she stood up and approached the cart to see what the woman was offering. As she looked over the names of all the treats, she quickly realized she was unfamiliar with all of the things she had to offer. "Umm, can I get two of everything?" Hayley asked.

The older woman's eyes widened for a moment before she simply said, "Sure you can dear." She paused for a moment to add up her total. "That'll be eleven Sickles and seven Knuts." Hayley handed over the money and returned to the compartment with her hands full.

Ron's eyes widened, "Hungry?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded and looked over everything, "Plus, I've never had any of these." She said and looked over to her companion, "You can take anything you want. I got more than enough." Ron still looked hesitant, so she simply grabbed the first thing closest to her and showed it to him, "You like these?" When she received a nod, she threw the 'Pumpkin Pasty' at him. "Take it, like I said, I have more than enough and I just wanted to try everything." It only took him a moment more to put down his sandwich and ripe open the pumpkin treat.

"Thanks." Ron said quickly between bites.

Hayley smiled, "You're welcome." She said and went back to looking through all the treats she bought. She picked up a box that said, 'Chocolate Frogs'. She held up the package to Ron, "These aren't _real_ frogs are they?"

"'Course not, but they are enchanted to hop around like frogs, so be careful." He said and quickly finished off the Pumpkin Pasty he was eating. "If you get Agippa, I'll trade you for it."

Hayley tilted her head to the side, "What?"

"Oh, sorry I forgot you don't know. Inside every box of Chocolate Frogs there are cards of famous witches and wizards to collect." Ron explained.

She nodded her head and opened the box. As soon as she did, the frog leapt away, but she was more interested in the card inside. She pulled it out and pictured was an old man with half-moon glasses with a long silver beard and long silver hair. The name inscribed beneath his picture read, Albus Dumbledore. "It's Dumbledore."

"I got at least a dozen of him." Ron said and eyed the other Chocolate Frogs box, "Can I have the other one, I may get Agippa?" He asked.

Hayley reached over and picked up the other box before tossing it to Ron. He thanked her, but she was still focused on the card in her hand. 'Hagrid said that Dumbledore was a great wizard.' She thought and turned the card over.

'_Albus Dumbledore, currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many to be the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling._'

She turned the card over and was shocked to see no one in the picture, "He's gone!"

Ron looked up, "Well, of course, you can't expect him to just hang around all day." He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Nothing moves in Muggle pictures." Hayley explained.

"Really?" He questioned and received a nod, before he added, "That's weird."

Hayley sighed; she was going to say the exact same thing about magical pictures, when the compartment door opened again. A young boy with a round face glanced around inside, who Hayley remembered passing as she was looking for a suitable compartment, now he looked to be on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry to disturb both of you, but have you seen a toad anywhere?"

Both Hayley and Ron shook their heads, negatively. "But I'm sure he'll turn up." Hayley said optimistically.

He lowered his head, "I hope so." He said before exiting the compartment.

Once the door was shut Hayley said, "I feel sorry for him."

Ron just shrugged, "I wish I was in his position, but Scabbers is too lazy to run away." He said paused before adding, "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday, but the spell didn't work…I'll show you." He said and got up. He went over to his trunk and rummaged through its contents, until he pulled out his wand. It looked to be in a pretty sorry state, with what looked like threads of something coming out one end. He sat back down and cleared his throat, before raising his wand, only to stop when the compartment door opened yet again.

Both occupants looked up when the door slid open again and this time a young girl with bushy brown hair appeared. She glanced around inside before asking, "Have you seen a toad anywhere around? Neville is looking for it."

Both Ron and Hayley shook their heads, "No, he just came by actually and asked the same question." Hayley said.

The other girl nodded, "Ok, well if you do he goes by Trevor." She said and was about to close the door when she noticed the red haired boy had his wand out. "Are going to do magic?" She asked already moving inside.

"D-Did you want to sit with us?" Hayley asked nervously.

"Sure." She said and stepped inside; dragging Neville in with her, sliding shut the door behind her. She came inside and sat beside Hayley, but focused on Ron, who still had his wand out. "Well, what are you going to do?"

"Just watch." Ron cleared his throat and pointed his wand at the rat in his hand, "Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." He said and flicked his wand. A flash of yellow was emitted by the wand, but nothing happened to the rat. Scabbers quickly wiggled out of Ron's grasp and ran underneath his seat.

Hayley looked at Ron a little sadly; she was really hoping to see real magic being performed. 'I really hope magic isn't _that_ hard to do.' She thought to herself.

"Are you sure that's really a spell?" The young brunette girl asked. "I've tried a few simple spells myself and they've all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, it's the best school of witchcraft there is I've heard. I've learned all the course books by heart, of course. I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

"Ron Weasley." The red head said without really looking at the girl who asked the question.

Hayley wasn't entirely sure if she was directing her question at just Ron, who was trying to do magic, but she decided to answer anyway, "Hayley Potter."

"Wow, you're in a ton of books, you know." Hermione said and turned toward her.

"I am?" Hayley asked as she looked at the other girl curiously.

"Of course, you were responsible for You-know-who's defeat." Hermione said as though it was the most logical thing. She seemed to be thinking for a moment before she rattled off, "Let's see you're in, 'Modern Magical History' and 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and 'Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

'I guess that would be news…' The dark haired girl thought and looked to the compartment's floor, "It's a little weird being famous for something I don't even remember." She said and paused before adding, "I was only just recently told about in fact."

"If it were me though, I would have done as much reading on what was written about me." Hermione interjected.

"I didn't have access to my school books because my Uncle locked them up as soon as I got back from Diagon Alley." Hayley said and paused for a moment before adding, "Besides, everything written in books isn't necessarily true. I'm pretty sure I know myself better than how any book would describe me."

"Well that can be true, but people often base a lot of their opinions on what they read." Hermione stated.

"I guess that may be true, but if people are judging me without even knowing me, I don't really care what they think." The black haired girl retorted. "You aren't one of those people are you?"

Hermione looked at Hayley for moment and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and tilted her head to the side slightly, "Your glasses are broken." She said changing the subject.

The dark haired girl nodded, "Yeah, they've been like that for ages now." She said, not entirely understanding the purpose of discussing her beaten up glasses.

"Well, why haven't you repaired them?" The brunette asked curiously.

"Well, my Aunt and Uncle didn't really care too much about fixing them so…" Hayley was saying, until the other girl cut her off.

"No, that's not what I meant. You got a wand, right?" Hayley nodded her head slowly, not really following where the other girl was going. "You could have fixed them yourself." Hermione said and pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at Hayley's face and gave a small wave as she said…

"Oculus Reparo."

Just about immediately after the words left the brunette's mouth, the tape that had been holding Hayley's glasses together unwound. She was a little surprised that her glasses didn't simply fall into her lap, instead they remained in place. She quickly took her glasses off and inspected them. After a few moments she exclaimed, "Wow, there as good as new."

"I know." Hermione said, as she looked at her handy work with a pleased smile on her face. "I would recommend changing into your robes soon; I expect that we are nearly there." Hermione got up and exited the compartment with Neville.

"Stupid spell…" Ron muttered, obviously still focused on the spell failing again. He must have retrieved his rat, because he was holding him again as he spoke.

"So, what do your older brothers do anyway? Bill and Charlie." Hayley asked, trying to get his mind to think about something else.

"Oh, well Charlie is studying dragon's in Romania and Bill is doing something in Egypt for Gringotts." He said and paused, as though an idea just struck him, "That reminds me, did you hear about Gringotts? I doubt there would be coverage in Muggle news, but it's been big news in the wizarding world for some time now. Someone tried to break in and rob a high security vault!"

Hayley inched up in her seat, "Really? What happened to the burglar?"

Ron inched forward now too, "Nothing. That is why this is so big. The person or persons haven't been caught. My dad believes it had to be a powerful dark wizard to get past the security. Something this big brings back fears about You-know-who." He said, almost whispering.

There was something about referring to someone as '_You-know-who_' that didn't sit well with her. She knew he was a bad guy, evil in fact, but not using his real name seemed to only increase the fear surrounding him.

"So, who is your favorite Quidditch team?" Ron asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"Umm…I don't really know any." Hayley said, a little sheepishly. "Honestly, I don't even know anything about the sport." She confessed.

"It's only the best sport in the world." He said and began going over all the basic of the game. She tried to keep up with everything he was saying, but it seemed really complicated. "We have Quidditch teams at school too, one from each house." He said excitedly. When he said that, her thoughts went to thinking the game would make more sense if she actually saw it being played.

Just then the compartment door slid open again, prompting Hayley to wish there was a lock on it. This seemed like the dozenth time someone had taken it upon themselves to enter their compartment. She half expected it to Neville again or even Hermione Granger, but it was neither of them. Into the compartment walked three boys, only one of which did she recognize, the one in the middle. Draco Malfoy, the boy she met at Madam Malkin's.

"I wondered what compartment you would be in." Draco said as he shut the door behind him.

Hayley stood up, as did Ron, and she eyed the smallest of trio cautiously. The two boys on either side of him were considerably bigger than Draco and looked mean, they reminded her of Dudley. Standing on either side of the smaller blond, they looked almost like body guards.

"This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." Draco said and pointed to each boy in turn. "You remember me I'm sure, Draco Malfoy."

Ron snickered beside her and she wanted to elbow him in the side. They were outnumbered and certainly looked out manned with the two brutes next to Draco.

"Is something funny?" He asked but didn't wait for an answered as he quickly sized the red head up, "I guess there's no point asking who you are. My father told all about the Weasleys, red hair, freckles, and hand me down clothes. I wasn't talking to you anyway_, Weasley_." He said and turned back to Hayley. "I told you that you'd have a choice to make when you came to Hogwarts." He said and glanced over to the boy Hayley had been talking to. "And by the looks of who you are already spending your time with, I can see you are going to need my help with that. So what do you say?"

Hayley stared straight at the blond haired boy, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I can decide for myself who are the right and wrong sort."

Draco's eyes flashed with anger, "Be careful Potter, this is a one-time offer."

"I believe I've already made my decision Malfoy." Hayley said, copying Draco's use of her surname.

"You're going end up just like your parents. Hanging out with riff raff like the Weasleys and that half breed Hagrid, it'll rub off on you." Draco said threateningly.

Ron took a step forward, "Say that again." He warned.

"Oh, showing a bit of a backbone for your girlfriend." Malfoy mocked.

Ron looked at Hayley confusedly, while she turned beet red and took a step forward as well, "Excuse _me_. I know your sort just fine, and you're nothing but a bully. If you wanted to start something, you didn't need to bring your _boyfriends _along."

"What did you say?" Malfoy said and noticeably balled his fists at his sides.

She wasn't entirely sure where her confidence was coming from, but she wasn't going to back down now, "You heard me. Why don't you and your boyfriends run along?"

"I don't think we want to leave now…do we, Crabbe and Goyle?" Malfoy said dangerously.

The three boys stepped forward and then something completely unexpected happened. All of a sudden Ron's lazy fat rat, Scabbers, jump out of his hand and leapt at the closest person to him, Goyle. The rat bit the large boy's hand, he howled in pain and he began to flail around to try and get the rat off. In his wild movements he nearly stuck both of his friends, but in the chaos the other two boys ran out of the room. At that point, Goyle had successfully detached Scabbers from his finger and ran after his friends, "Wait for me!"

Both Hayley and Ron couldn't hold back their laughter at the events, "Who would have thought, Scabbers?" Ron said and reached down to pick up his rat. He quickly examined him, "I don't believe it! He fell back asleep!"

Suddenly the door shot open again, "What have you boys been doing?" Hermione exclaimed as she burst inside.

Ron ignored her and turned to Hayley, "How do you know Malfoy?"

"I met him in Diagon Alley when I was shopping for my supplies." Hayley explained.

"I heard what was going on here; you two were going to start a fight." Hermione said.

"You were spying on us." Ron accused.

Hermione turned a light shade of red, "I was not. I could plainly hear you in the next compartment!"

"If you could _plainly_ hear us, you would know we weren't _starting_ anything." Hayley said quickly.

"It doesn't really matter, does it? You'd still get in trouble for fighting even before we made it school." She said in a know it all sort of way. She paused and looked at both of them for a second before saying, "You still need to change into your robes. I was just up by the conductor a few minutes ago and he said we would be there in a couple minutes." She started to turn away when turned to Ron, "And you've got dirt on your nose…right there." She said and pointed her finger at his nose. She turned around and exited to compartment, but Hayley quickly followed her out.

Hayley took a couple steps out of the compartment she was sharing with Ron and called to the retreating brunette, "Hermione!" The other girl stopped and looked back, "I told you that you shouldn't trust everything you read in books…I'm not a boy." She said and quickly stepped back inside her compartment, shutting the door in the process.

End Ch.3

* * *

Hayley and Hermione really didn't get off on the right foot did they?

In case anyone didn't know, Hayley **is** a unisex name, so it could be a boy's name or a girl's name. Though it is more commonly a girl's name, it's not always, like actor Haley Joel Osmond. Umm…I don't really have much else to say, aside from saying that I hope everyone enjoyed this installment and was enjoyed the minor changes here and there. Oh, I did have to change one word the barkeep at the Leaky Cauldron said, to keep continuity though. I changed Ms. Potter to Hayley Potter, I wrote Ms. without really thinking about, sorry about that.

Oh, if anyone is reading this that is also reading 'Our Future', I'm sorry for updating this first, but I had to write what was on my mind and while I did make progress on 'Our Future' it is still a little away from being completed. Hopefully I can give that my full attention this weekend, because I actually don't have to work this weekend. So here's hoping (I'm crossing my fingers).


	4. Sorting

~~**~~  
Chapter 4 – Sorting  
~~**~~

Hayley reentered the compartment she'd been sharing with Ron and was about to sit down, when she saw the red haired boy was staring at her strangely. "What is it?" She asked curiously.

"You're a girl..." He said, sounding completely dumbstruck.

"Umm…yeah." Hayley said and sighed when she could see he was still surprised. "Don't tell me you thought I was a boy too?"

"Of course! That's what all the stories said. They call you the boy who lived." Ron explained.

"Great…now I have to deal with this as well as people gawking at me like I'm some kind of animal at the zoo." She said and sat down, running her hands through her hair. She kept her hands on her head and lowered her gaze to the floor and stared at it. 'There wasn't anyone that could have corrected them?' Hayley annoyingly thought.

"Blimey!" Ron exclaimed and sat down where he was seated before. He was silent for a short time before saying, "I guess since you're wearing boy's clothes I didn't…"

"I told you these are my cousin's old clothes." She said and pulled at her shirt slightly. "I've never gotten new clothes until I got my robes for…" She paused when she remembered when she went and bought her robes. She asked for pants instead of the skirt that was normally with the girl's uniform, now that would only make things more complicated for her. She only did it for her own comfort. 'I wouldn't even know how to sit properly in a skirt.' She told herself.

"What is it?" He asked, but before Hayley could say anything a voice boomed throughout the train.

"_We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave all of your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately_."

Hayley looked a Ron, "Would you mind stepping out for a moment, so I…uh…can change?" She asked awkwardly.

Ron got up quickly, "Oh, yeah." He said and was out the door without saying anything more.

She watched the door shut before going over to her trunk. She rifled through it for a moment before she came across her robes. She pulled out her uniform and laid it on the seat she'd been sitting on. She quickly removed her clothes and put on each article of the uniform. She was done as quickly as she could, but she did have a little trouble with the tie. She made her way over to the door and stepped outside, "You should get changed now." She said and glanced over to Ron. He nodded quickly and went back inside while Hayley waited outside this time.

Hayley could hear all the commotion in the other compartments, likely everyone else was getting ready as well, if they hadn't already. She looked up and down the hall and it was virtually empty as well. It didn't seem like more than a minute before Ron slid open the door and said that he was finished. She went back inside and looked over Ron's uniform, it honestly didn't look any different than hers, 'I guess it would look different if I had the skirt that really goes with my uniform though.' She told herself before she felt the train slowing down. In moment, the train came to a complete stop and the voice from earlier boomed through the train again.

"_We've reached Hogwarts. Please disembark in an orderly fashion_."

Hayley looked at Ron; she was a little relieved to see that he looked as nervous as she felt. She wasn't this nervous the entire train ride, but now that they had finally reached Hogwarts, her stomach was in knots. She quickly grabbed what she could of the treats that they hadn't had the opportunity eat and shoved them in her pockets.

They both exited the compartment and found the hallway to be filled to students now, all making their way off the train. They followed the flow of students until they were outside. As soon as the cold night air hit her, Hayley shivered, 'I wasn't this cold earlier.' She thought to herself and realized the black robe didn't do anything to protect her from the chilly air.

"First years! First years! This way!"

Hayley smiled at the loud voice and quickly looked around to see where the giant of man was. Her smile widened even more when she spotted him, though he wasn't exactly hard to find. "Come on, this way Ron." She said and grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him toward Hagrid. They had to make their way through another sea of students to get to where Hagrid stood, but it didn't take them very long to reach him.

"Oh, hi Hayley! How 'ave yah been? The Dursleys treatin' yah better?" Hagrid asked.

"I'm good Hagrid, thank you." Hayley said and gave him a quick hug. "And they've been much better, thanks to you." She said as she pulled away.

"Good. I'll set 'em straight again if they need it, just so yah know." He said with a smile. He looked up to see all the students who had already gathered around, "Gotta get back to work." He said and called to the students again. "Last call! All first years! This way!" He waited a couple moments to see if anyone else was making their way over, but there didn't appeared to be so he addressed the students around him, "Okay, everyone follow me!" He started walking down a thin slope that lead to a waterway, surrounded by trees. "Mind your step, everyone!"

They walked a short ways before they could see the shoreline just up ahead, as well as the end of the small forest of trees. "Yah'll see Hogwarts in a moment!" Hagrid told the group and sure enough he was right because as soon as they reached the edge of trees they could see a large castle, sitting atop the side of a mountain. Many of the first years gasped at the sight, it looked huge from this distance. There were too many towers and turrets to count, and they were only seeing one side of the school.

"Yah'll see it up close soon." Hagrid said and walked up to the shoreline. "We're takin' these boats to Hogwarts." He said and motioned to number of small boats lining the shore. "No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid yelled as all the first years began to make way to the boats.

Hayley grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him towards one of the boats. She knew another pair would join them, but she wanted to at least choose the boat she was going to sit in and sit with someone that she knew. Once they were seated Hayley groaned when she saw the pair headed towards their boat.

"What?" Ron asked curiously and sat down across from Hayley.

"Look." She said and motioned toward Hermione and Neville.

He looked over to where Hayley directed, "Oh…"

"I guess at least they are better than Malfoy and one of his goons." Hayley mumbled and made a point to not look at the brown haired girl, instead she stared down at the planks that made up the bottom of their boat.

"Can we sit with you two?"

Hayley heard the girl ask, but chose not to say anything, hoping Ron would. A couple seconds past and nothing was said, 'Maybe he is waiting for me to say something.' She thought when Hermione started to talk again.

"We can just find another boat, if you don't…"

"You can sit here." Hayley said, before the brunette could finish, but she didn't look up. She could feel the boat shift as they got on and then it settle down when they sat down. Her eyes drifted to the left slightly and she could see the person sitting next to her was wearing a skirt. She sighed, 'Of course she would sit next to me.' She thought when she heard the girl call her name. 'If I pretend that I don't hear her, maybe she'll give up.'

"Hayley?"

The black haired girl finally looked up and was going to speak, when Hagrid's voice interrupted her.

"Everyone in?" He called and looked around. When he didn't see any stragglers, he got into his own boat and pointed straight ahead, "FORWARD!"

As soon as the boats were moving, Hayley was once again looking down. Once again, she heard her name being called. A frown crossed her face, 'She doesn't intend on giving up, does she?' She questioned herself, but still didn't respond. After a couple seconds, Hermione spoke again, but this time it wasn't just her name.

"If you had no intention of talking to me, why did you say I could sit with you?"

Hayley looked over to Hermione, "Because if you sat here that meant Malfoy and one of his bodyguards wouldn't be able to. If that would have happened there probably would have been a fight and I know you already disapprove of that."

Hermione gave her a stern look, "Will you just listen to me? I'm not trying to talk to you about getting into fights, even though I still think that was wrong, that's not what I'm trying to talk to you about that."

Hayley looked around, "I can't really go anywhere, so I guess I don't really have a choice."

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Fine. Look, I'm sorry about what happened on the train. I didn't mean to assume, though I guess I sort of did because I didn't expect that you were a girl and…"

"I'm sorry I didn't meet your expectations." Hayley said quickly, cutting off the other girl's rambling.

"Hayley, that's not what I meant, but you should at least admit you don't do anything to let anyone think otherwise."

Hayley ignored her once again and looked over to the boat at the front of the flotilla and saw a familiar large man in it. "Hagrid! How long does this take to get to Hogwarts?" Hayley called over to Hagrid, who was in the lead boat, just a short distance away.

"Oh, it shouldn't be too much longer now, Hayley." He called back.

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, "I _am_ trying to apologize, so why are _you_ being so difficult?"

"If you wanted to apologize, you're doing a poor job of it." Hayley quickly countered.

"Fine, I'm done trying to apologize. I'll just sit here and not say another word." Hermione said and turned away from the other girl.

"That's fine by me." Hayley said and turned in the opposite direction.

Ron nudged Neville gently and leaned over to whisper, "Girls…am I right?" Neville didn't really give much of a reaction aside from sniffling a couple times, clearly still missing his toad.

"Mind your heads!" Hagrid called as they came to the mountain, upon which Hogwarts sat.

All the boats turned and travel toward a part of the cliff that had long vines cascading down the side. If she hadn't experienced traveling through a wall to get to Platform 9 ¾, she probably would have been worried about them crashing, but since she had, she wasn't. In fact, once they were passed the vines, they began traveling down what seemed to be a tunnel. It wasn't long before the tunnel widened into a small harbor of sorts and the boats all came to a rest.

"This is our stop!" Hagrid called to the group of students. As soon as he said that, all the students began to disembark their boats.

Hermione quickly stepped out of the boat and marched away from the three she had shared the boat with. Hayley didn't really pay her too close attention to her because she soon became lost to her eyes in a sea of people. 'If I'm lucky maybe I won't have to deal with her too much…' Hayley thought as she too stepped out of the boat.

Once it looked like everyone had made it on shore, Hagrid went back and inspected each boat to make sure they weren't missing anyone. After a couple boats, he reached into one and turned to the group again, "Oy, is someone missin' a toad?"

"Trevor!" Neville said immediately and ran forward. The previously solemn boy finally had a smile on his face as he took the toad from Hagrid.

"Right, this way!" The large man called and motioned for everyone to follow him again. They walked up the stony shore until they reached a set of stairs and continued forward up them for a short time, eventually reaching a large set of double doors. Bringing up his large hand, Hagrid pounded on the door three times. It was only seconds before the doors swung open to reveal a tall black haired witch, wearing green robes.

"Here are the first years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid said and greeted the stern looking woman.

She gave him a quick nod, "Thank you Hagrid, I'll take them from here." She said and fully opened the doors for the students to enter.

Once full access was given, Hayley could finally see the entrance hall in its glory. She expected it to be big, that was an understatement, it was massive. The stone walls were lined with torches, which surprisingly gave the area a reasonable amount of light. Towards the end of the hall there was a huge staircase that led up to the higher levels.

The Professor didn't tell them to follow, she simply walked across the stone floor and the students followed. They walked past the first doorway, where a lot of noise seemed to be coming from; instead they were led into the next doorway, which was nothing more than an empty chamber. Once they were all inside, Professor McGonagall addressed the group, "Welcome to Hogwarts. You will be joining your fellow students shortly in the main hall for the start of term banquet, but you first need to be sorted into your houses. Your house will be like your family while you are at Hogwarts. Your classes will be divided up by house, you will sleep in your house dormitory, and you will spend much of your free time in your house's common room." She said and paused for a moment, "There are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house was founded and named after the four founders of Hogwarts itself. Your successes will earn you house points and any rule breaking will cost your house points. At year's end, the house with the most accumulated points will be awarded the house cup." Professor McGonagall paused again and added, "The sorting ceremony will take place in front of the rest of school and should begin shortly. I'll return when we are ready for you." She said and left the chamber.

Hayley looked to her right and gave Ron a curious expression, "So, how does this sorting thing work?" Hayley whispered to him.

Ron looked over to her as he spoke, "I'm not too sure. Fred and George say it's some sort of test. Fred said it's painful, but I think he was joking."

"A test?" Hayley muttered, more to herself than anyone. Her thoughts unconsciously went to Hermione, 'She said she already memorized our school books, so it'd probably be a breeze for her but I don't know single thing about how to do magic. How can I pass a test when I don't know the first thing about magic?' She thought and felt the same nerves as when they got off the train

Ron nodded, "Yeah, I just hope I don't end up in Syltherin. My whole family has been in Gryffindor, so it'd be strange if I wasn't, but anything is better than Syltherin."

"What's wrong with Syltherin?" Hayley asked.

"There isn't a dark wizard that hasn't come out of Syltherin. It's the house You-know-who was in, when he went to Hogwarts." Ron whispered.

Hayley nodded her head in understanding. 'Dark wizards? I hope I don't end up in Syltherin.' She thought and jump slight as a couple girls around her screamed. She looked around quickly to see what happened, when she spotted a pair of ghosts.

"Forgive and forget, as I say. We should give him a second chance." The plump ghost said to the other one.

"Haven't we already given Peeves more chances than he deserves, Friar? He gives us ghosts a bad name I tell you." The ghost wearing a ruff and tights stopped, finally noticing the students they had unknowingly frightened. "What are all of you doing here?" Everyone still looked to be a bit of shock, so no one answered.

"Ah, you must be the first years waiting to be sorted, right?" The Friar deduced and received a couple slow nods, "I hope to see you in Hufflepuff! That's my old house."

The odd one sided conversation was cut off by a stern voice, "Move along. The sorting ceremony is about to commence." The two ghosts vanished through a nearby wall and Professor McGonagall spoke again, "Form a line and follow me." She led them out of the chamber they were in and toward where all the noise was coming from earlier; it had quieted down somewhat since then.

As they walked into the main hall, all eyes fell on the first years. Hayley tried to take everything in, but there was so much that caught her eyes. The candles suspended in mid-air above their heads, the grandness of the hall itself, and four impossibly long tables with gold settings. When she looked forward, she could see another long table was at the front of the hall and it appeared to have all the Professors sitting there. The walk seemed to take forever, but that was probably more because of all the eyes she felt on her. She stopped because the boy in front her did and she looked around, to see the Professor was walking toward the teacher's table. She rolled her eyes when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"That's not really the sky; it's bewitched to look like that. I read about it in 'Hogwarts – a History'" She said knowingly.

Hayley looked up to see what Hermione was referring to. Way above their heads, where there should be a ceiling, there did in fact seem to be the same starry sky, they had just left a short time ago. It was in a word…magical. Hayley looked forward when she heard something being place on the ground.

Professor McGonagall was standing next to a four-legged stool, which had an old and beaten up looking hat sitting upon it. "When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head. You will then be sorted into your house and you may join their table." Professor McGonagall said and unrolled a long piece of parchment. She cleared her throat before speaking again, "Abbott, Hannah!"

Hayley felt someone nudge her from behind and she looked over her shoulder, "So…we just have to try on a hat…" Ron said in disbelief. "I can't believe Fred told me we had to wrestle a troll." Ron muttered, this time more to himself than to her.

Hayley on the other hand was quite overjoyed that she didn't have to try and perform magic. She looked around to see who it was that was called when a girl with blonde hair done up in pigtails stepped forward slowly. She watched the whole process carefully, curious to know what to expect when her turn came around. The girl sat on the stool and Professor McGonagall place the hat atop her head. After only about a second, the hat yelled, "Hufflepuff!"

She jumped slightly, not really expecting the hat to actually speak. It was strange, but ever since she learned about this magical world, she almost came to expect that. Hayley watched Hannah jump down and ran over to her house's table, the one to the far right which was cheering, when the next name was called.

"Bones, Susan!"

The same process happened with Susan as with Hannah. As soon as the hat was placed on her head it shouted, "Hufflepuff!"

"Boot, Terry!"

The hat called a different name, when it was place on his head, "Ravenclaw!"

She watched as he joined Ravenclaw's table, which was the second table from the left. The next name called, Brocklehurst, Mandy, join him at the same table.

"Brown, Lavender!"

When the hat was place upon her head, it took a moment before it called out, "Gryffindor!"

The table on the far left broke into cheers and welcomed Lavender to their house. That left only one house that didn't have a new student yet, but that didn't last long because the next name, Bulstrode, Millicent, was sorted into Slytherin. Hayley watched Millicent join the Slytherin's table. She didn't want to judge a book by its cover, but everyone sitting at the Slytherin table looked…unpleasant.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

As soon as the hat touched his head, the hat said, "Hufflepuff!"

Hayley couldn't help but notice it took different lengths of time to call out house names for everyone. For some, it was called out immediately, while others, it took much longer. This was the case with, Finnigan, Seamus, who stood in front of her in line. The hat sat on his head for at least a minute before yelling, "Gryffindor!"

"Granger, Hermione!"

That name got Hayley's full attention. She watched the brunette run up the stool and sit down eagerly. When the hat was place on her head, it took a few seconds for it to call out a house, but when it did, it said, "Gryffindor!"

Hayley groaned quietly, 'That's the house I was hoping to get into. Ron said his family is all in that house and they are good people, as far as she'd seen. And if we spent as much time with our housemates as the Professor said, I wanted to be around people I know.' She watched as the students at the table welcomed her into their house, 'I guess it wouldn't be so bad, as long as I don't have to room with her.' She thought, when another name caught her attention.

"Longbottom, Neville!"

Hayley recognized that name as the boy who had lost his toad. He looked incredibly nervous as he walked up to the stool. He actually nearly tripped as he was about half way to the stool and much of the school erupted into laughter. She really kind of felt sorry for the boy, she could just tell he was going to be subjected to a lot of bullying. When the hat was place on his head, it seemed to take a very long time to decide where to sort him, the longest it had taken so far as far as she could tell. Eventually it shouted out, "Gryffindor!" In his excitement Neville started toward the Gryffindor table, still wearing the sorting hat. The professor called him back. He jogged back and the Professor took the hat from his head and he turned a bright scarlet, bringing another roar of laughter from the school. He sheepishly ran over to the table he'd been heading toward before.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Hayley wasn't surprised when she heard the hat call out Slytherin, almost before it even touched his head, especially after what she'd heard about that house. That also sealed in her mind that she wanted to be in any house, but that one. His two bodyguards were unsurprisingly in Slytherin as well and welcomed him to their table.

"Parkinson…"

She didn't really hear the student's first name because she could feel a knot form in her stomach as Professor McGonagall finally reached the P's. She didn't know how many were before her, but she knew her name couldn't be far off. There two Patil names called, twin girls. Next was "Perks, Sally-Anne" and she _knew_ that the Professor had to close to her name by then. After the girl stepped down from the stool and ran off to her table, she was finally called.

"Potter, Hayley!"

The hall seemed to get silent for a moment after her name was called. She took a deep breath and walked forward as quickly as she could, but she still felt like she was walking through wet cement. She could almost feel everyone's eyes on her. She could hear voices talking about her, but she didn't turn around, she just wanted to get to that stool as soon as possible and not be the center of attention anymore. When she reached the stool, she knew that she would have turn around to take her seat on the stool. She quickly turned around and sat down. Now she didn't just _feel_ eyes on her, she could see everyone looking at her and if she weren't nervous already, she certainly was now. She was thankful when the hat was placed on her head, because it obscured her vision somewhat, so she didn't have to _see_ everyone staring at her.

As soon as the hat was secure on her head, she could hear a voice seemingly speaking into her ear. "Hmm…difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness yes…and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where should I put you?"

'Not Slytherin, _not_ Slytherin.' Hayley thought repeatedly to herself.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" The voice said and paused, "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that…still no? Well if you're sure…better be…GRYFFINDOR!"

She could hear the last word was shouted so everyone in the hall would hear. She took off the hat and handed it to Professor McGonagall and jumped down from the stool. Hayley approached the Gyffindor table and blushed as a chorus of cheers and chants of "We got Potter!" led by the Fred and George erupted as she got closer. She walked by Percy, who stood beside the table, and he gave her a smile and nod. The Weasley twins both got up and patted her on the back, before taking their seats again.

Hayley sat at the table in the first open spot she could find, which happened to be across from Hermione, who simply chose to ignore her, which she didn't mind.

"Welcome to Gryffindor!" A voice to her left said followed by an ice cold chill run down her spine.

Hayley looked to where the voice was and…saw the thinner of the two ghosts from earlier. She simply gave him a weak smile, though she wanted to tell him to never do that again. Her eyes went to the teacher's table at the front of the hall. Sitting at the end of the table, closest to her sat Hagrid. He looked over to her and gave her two thumbs up and Hayley smiled back at him. At the middle of the teachers, sitting in the largest chair was Albus Dumbledore, who she recognized from his card in her chocolate frog from the train. He looked just like his card. She also saw the man she met in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell. He looked as skittish as he did that day.

Hayley looked at the students who still needed to be sorted and saw there were only four students left, Ron among them. A black boy named, Dean Thomas had his name called, leaving just three waiting. The hat shouted Gryffindor, and he came over to Hayley's table.

"Turpin, Lisa!"

She wasn't paying too close attention to the house she was sorted into, but she did hear the hat say, Ravenclaw. Finally, Ron's name was called and he made his way to the stool. He looked positively sick with worry when the hat was placed on his head. Hayley crossed her fingers as she waited to hear which house was called out. After a couple seconds it shouted, "Gryffindor!" Hayley joined the Weasley boys as they all stood up and clapped as he approached their table. He was greeted warmly at the table took a seat to the right of Hayley.

That only left one more student, Zabini, Blaise, who was sorted into Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll of parchment she had and took the stool as well as the sorting hat, over to the teachers table and took a seat next to Dumbledore.

With everyone sorted, Albus Dumbledore stood up from his chair and smiled as he held his arms wide open. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our start of term banquet, there are a few words I'd like to say…" He said and cleared his throat before speaking again, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He said and moved to sit down again.

The student body erupted into applause and cheers, while Hayley stared at him curiously, 'Was he serious?' She looked over to the oldest Weasley, "Percy, is he mad or something?"

"He's a genius! Best wizard of our time I'd say, but yes he is a bit mad." Percy said and offered her a plate, "Potatoes?"

She'd been watching the Professor, so she didn't notice that the plates in front them that were previously empty, were now full of all sorts of food. Her mouth unconsciously watered at the selection. She'd never been starved while she lived with the Dursleys, but she wasn't exactly given these kind of options.

"That looks so good…" The ghost who greeted her at the table said sadly.

"I'm sorry." Hayley apologized to the ghost.

"It's been nearly four hundred years since I've eaten. Of course, obviously I don't need to, but I certainly do miss it so." He said and looked at the food sadly. "Where are my manners though? I haven't even introduced myself yet have I? The name is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpinington. I am your house's resident ghost."

"I know you! You're nearly headless Nick!" Ron said suddenly, putting down his plate.

"I'd prefer you call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpinington…" The ghost began, when another question was thrown his way.

"_Nearly headless_? How can you be _nearly_ headless?" Seamus asked, sort of laughing.

"Like _this_…" He said and pulled one side of his head. His head came off his neck, mostly, and rested on his shoulder. The first years gasped at his display. Even though he was a ghost it was still nasty to see one's head lying loosely on their shoulder. His head was only held to his body by a small piece of flesh, making it possibly more disgusting. He put his head more firmly on his neck, before addressing the students again, "I hope all of you can help bring the house cup back to Gryffindor. The Bloody Baron has been nearly unbearable over these last six years."

"The Bloody Baron?" Hayley asked.

"He's Slytherin's ghost." Sir Nicholas explained and caused many of the first years to look over to the Slytherin's table.

Floating by the Slytherin table was a most disturbing looking ghost. He was covered in silver blood, which may have been red before he died. Hayley got a little bit of satisfaction that the ghost was hanging around Malfoy, who looked far from please to be near the bloody ghost.

"How did he get covered in blood anyway?" Seamus asked.

Sir Nicholas shook his head, "I never asked."

The students went back to their food and finished up their dinners, when the plates in the middle of the table emptied and filled a moment later with desserts. Everyone again filed their plates with dessert this time, but the conversations among them continued. The focus had shifted to their families.

"Well, I'm half and half. My dad's a Muggle, but my mum's a witch. I guess she waited til they were married before she told him, it was quite a shock I hear." Seamus explained.

"How about you, Neville?" Ron asked and looked over to the round faced boy.

"My gram raised me and she's a witch. Most of my family thought I wasn't magical at all, cause I didn't show any signs that I would be wizard. One day when I was eight, my great Uncle Algie held me outside a window by my ankles to try and bring the magic out of me. Nothing was happening, but when my great Aunt Enid came in and frightened him, he accidently dropped me. That must have done the trick, cause instead of getting hurt, I bounced, all the down the street. My great Uncle Algie was so happy, he bought me my toad."

Hayley stared at the forgetful boy, 'I guess there are drawbacks to living in a wizarding family too.' She thought and caught a discussion on her other side. She could hear Hermione discussing their lessons with Percy, which didn't really surprise her.

"I hope we get started right away. There is so much to learn. I'm really looking forward to Transfiguration, but it's supposed to be really hard." She heard Hermione say.

"You won't start off with anything too difficult; you'll start with small things like matches and needles." She heard Percy explain.

She tuned them out and looked back to the teacher's table. Hagrid was taking a healthy drink from his goblet and Professor McGonagall was leaning toward Professor Dumbledore, saying something. Her eyes traveled further down the table, since she didn't really know any of the other teachers yet. She noticed Professor Quirrell was looking even more nervous if that was possible, he was talking to another professor. The other professor had greasy looking black hair, a hooked nose, and had very pale skin. Hayley hissed in pain slightly as she watched the duo. The unknown Professor turned toward her just then. He looked to be staring straight at her, almost analyzing her and that made her feel uncomfortable. She hissed again when she felt the burning pain again. She reached up to check if she was bleeding for some reason, but there was nothing. However, when she touched the scar on her forehead, she quickly retracted her hand and winced at how sensitive it felt.

"What's wrong?"

Hayley tried to ignore the voice initially, but from what she already knew about the girl addressing her, she knew she probably wasn't going away. She turned away from the teachers table and could already feel the pain lessening. 'What on earth was that?' She questioned herself.

"Hayley…?"

The black haired girl took a couple deep breaths and turned to Hermione, "Y-Yes?" She asked, trying to sound completely normal, but the pain in her head was making her feel weak.

"Is something wrong? Do you want me to get one of the teachers?" Hermione whispered.

Hayley shook her head, "No. I'm fine. I just have a headache." She said and tried to ignore the brunette again, but she could see the other girl was still staring at her. She tapped Percy on his shoulder, "Who is that talking to Professor Quirrell?"

"You know Quirrell already?" He said curiously and looked over the table to see who Hayley was referring to. "It's no surprise he is acting so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches potions, but it's no secret that he's really after Quirrell's job, defense against the dark arts."

Hayley nodded slowly and Percy went back to his dessert. She hazarded a glance back at Snape, but found he wasn't looking in her direction anymore. She was pleased that this time her scar didn't hurt, though it still throbbed lightly. She heard someone clear their throat at the teacher's table and looked down it to see Professor Dumbledore was standing once again.

"I just have a few more words before all of you may go off to bed. There are a few start of term notices that all of you should take note of." He said and paused before adding, "First years should know that the forest on the grounds is strictly forbidden. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, our caretaker, to remind all students that no magic should be performed in to corridors between classes. Quidditch trails will be during the second week of term. Anyone interested in trying out for their house's teams should contact Madam Hooch." He said and paused before delivering one final notice, "Finally, I must inform everyone that for this year's term, the third floor corridor on the right side of school is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

Hayley was about the laugh, but held back because no else seemed to think he was joking. She once again tapped Percy on his shoulder, "He's not serious, right?"

"He must be." Percy said and looked back at the headmaster. "It's curious because he will usually give us a reason, not simply tell us not to do something. I mean, the Forbidden Forest is one thing, it's filled with all manners of dangerous beasts, but he didn't even tell the Prefects at least…"

"Now, let us end this banquet by singing our school song!" Dumbledore exclaimed and gave a flick of his wand. Golden ribbons flew out of his wands and began to form words high above their heads, "Ok, please begin."

"_Hogwarts. Hogwarts. Hoggy Warty Hogwarts.  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees.  
Our head could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff.  
For now they're bare and full of air.  
Dead flies and bits of fluff.  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."_

Everyone finished at different times, with the Weasley twins finishing nearly a minute after everyone else.

"Ah, I do so love music…" The professor said and wiped a tear from his eye. "Now, it's time for everyone to turn in for the night. Off you go!"

All the first year Gryffindor students followed Percy out of the main hall. Hayley didn't know what time it was, but she knew that she felt tired, 'I hope it isn't too far.' She thought to herself. Percy led them to the marble stair case she saw when they first entered. They climbed the stairs and afterwards they passed through a number hidden doorways and a handful of sliding panels, before they reached even more stairs. Hayley heard some yawning behind her, so she knew she wasn't alone in her sleepiness. 'How much further is it?' She questioned mentally, when they came to a stop.

Just ahead of them there were at least a dozen walking sticks hovering in mid-air. Percy looked back at the students he was guiding and said, "Peeves, he's a poltergeist." He stepped forward and called out, "Peeves…show yourself…now!" There was a loud screech as an answer, so Percy spoke again, "Do you want me to get the Bloody Baron?" Percy asked the ghost.

There was a loud pop and suddenly a small man with dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared. He was floating in the air holding the walking sticks. He let out an evil chuckle, "Oh…firsties!" The poltergeist said and swooped towards the students, making all of them duck.

"Go away Peeves, or I'll tell the Baron. I mean it!" Percy exclaimed. He received a raspberry as a response, but he did listen and escaped through a nearby wall, the walking sticks falling to the ground as he did.

Once Peeves was gone, Percy turned back to the group, "Watch out for him. The Bloody Baron is the only one that can keep him in line." After saying that he continued to lead them down the corridor until they reached a portrait. The portrait featured a very fat woman in a pink dress.

"Password?" The woman in the portrait asked.

"Caput Draconis." Percy said and immediately the portrait swung open to reveal a small passageway.

As they walked through the passageway, Hayley was a little worried that the throbbing had yet to completely subside, it had died down a lot but she could still feel it. Not only that, she could almost feel Hermione's eyes on her the entire time. She was sure they'd been on her since the incident at the banquet.

Eventually they emerged and found themselves in large circular room with a number of comfy looking armchairs and sofas. 'This must be the common room.' Hayley mused to herself and gave a quick look around. It did look quite cozy.

"Boys your rooms will be to the left and girls yours are to the right. Your names will be posted on the dorm room you'll be in. Those will be your rooms for all of your terms here. I recommend getting a good night's sleep because classes begin tomorrow." Percy said as the first year students made their way up their respective staircases, boys to the left and girls to the right. Hayley could only hope that she was roomed up with anyone but the smarty pants of Hogwarts. Not only did she flaunt her extensive knowledge, but more importantly to her, she was far too perceptive than she would like.

Hayley looked at every room's door she passed, looking for her name. It wasn't until she reached the last set of rooms that she finally found her name. She took a look over the names, Brown, Lavender; Dunbar, Fay; Granger, Hermione; and Patil, Parvati. Hayley sighed, 'It really seems like something is working against me.' She thought as she opened the door and went inside. She saw her trunk sitting next to one of the beds and walked over to it. Before she even reached her bed, she was joined by her other roommates. Hermione walked past Hayley and went straight to her trunk, but she couldn't be that lucky with the other three girls.

"You're _the_ Hayley Potter, right?" Questioned a girl Hayley recognized as Lavender, from the sorting.

Hayley sat on her bed, "Yeah, I am."

"Wow, I can't wait to tell my mum and dad." Lavender said almost gleefully. "I did think you were a boy though…"

'I'm officially tired of that coming up.' Hayley thought as her eyes flashed with a little anger and she replied, "Obviously I'm not." Hayley was about to sarcastically suggest that she could get naked to prove that she was _not_ a boy, but another question was directed at her.

"You have the scar and everything then?" Asked one of the other girl, but she didn't recognize her, she had to be Fay, cause she recognized the other girls.

"Yes." Hayley said simply, but she really wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, not have a Q&A session. She looked to the ground and her eyes caught sight of Hermione, who was still going through her trunk.

"Can we see it?" The last of the three girls said, who Hayley recognized as one of the Patil twins, Parvati.

Hayley was about to open her mouth, when Hermione stepped towards the group, "I'm sure you can see that Hayley is tired and I don't know about the rest of you, but I am as well. We are going to rooming together for the duration of our time at Hogwarts, so I think we'll have plenty of time to ask each other questions. Like maybe after we've all gotten a decent night's sleep. We have classes to attend tomorrow."

The three girls groaned and looked at Hayley for confirmation. "Sorry, but I _am_ tired." Hayley said and was met with another groan, but the three girls finally started to make it over to their respective beds. Hayley looked over to Hermione and saw she was already getting into her bed. Hayley did the same, not really caring about changing into her pajamas, she was too tired. She had no idea why Hermione would 'save' her, but she was grateful.

"Thanks Hermione." Hayley said quietly.

But she must have still heard her, because the brunette turned to her said, "You're welcome." Before turning back over.

'Maybe we won't just bicker…' Hayley thought as she turning over and got comfortable. It didn't take long at all for her to fall fast asleep…

* * *

_Hayley found herself on the stool to be sorted, but instead of the sorting hat being placed on her head, Professor Quirrell's turban was put on her. It wasn't Professor McGonagall who put it on her head either, but Professor Snape. She could hear a voice speak to her as the sorting hat did, "Slytherin is where you should be. Slytherin is your destiny. Slytherin is where you should be. Slytherin is your destiny…"_

"_No, I was already sorted. I'm in Gryffindor!" Hayley told it. She could hear laughing coming from the someone sitting at the student tables. She looked over and saw it was Draco Malfoy. _

_The turban began telling her that she needed to be in Slytherin again, but this time it wasn't just talking, it was becoming tighter and tighter around her head. She cried out painfully and tried to pull the turban off, but it was too tight and to her horror it was still getting tighter._

_She heard another person's laughter join Malfoy's and when she looked to see who it was, she saw it was the hook nosed teacher who put the turban on her head. His laugh was cold and evil. She was going to say something when she saw he had his wand pointed at her. She could see his lips move, but couldn't hear him. The next thing she saw was a burst of green light…_

* * *

Hayley's eyes shot open and immediately she could feel her forehead was throbbing worse than when she fell asleep and she was sweating. She shivered and felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to her left and was surprised to see her roommate, "What are you doing, Hermione?"

"You were having a nightmare." Hermione said quietly, so as not to wake anyone else.

Hayley sat up and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, 'Urg…I feel disgusting.' She frowned and lowered her head as she felt her head throb, as it did at dinner, so she sat there in silence and tried to concentrate on something else. Just on the edge of her field of vision, she saw Hermione was still standing by her bed. "What?" She asked quietly.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to get someone?" Hermione asked and watched the other girl carefully.

"No." She said quickly, receiving a curious look from Hermione. Hayley rubbed her forehead, where her scar was for a moment until it didn't hurt as bad. She noticed Hermione was still looking at her, "I'm fine. So you can go back to sleep."

"You were thrashing about in your sleep…" Hermione said

"Like you said, I was having a nightmare." Hayley said and looked over at the brunette for the first time since she woke and was surprised to see that she looked genuinely concerned.

"You were crying too." Hermione said quietly.

Hayley quickly reached up and felt her cheeks; they _were_ wet and she was pretty sure it wasn't from sweat like her forehead. 'What on earth was I dreaming about?' She questioned mentally herself. She racked her brain, but couldn't remember. Nor could she remember a time when a dream, or in this case a nightmare had this kind of effect on her. Even though she couldn't remember, she couldn't help but think there was some connection with her scar hurting during the banquet. She was brought out of her thoughts, when she realized Hermione was still looking at her, "What?" Hayley asked tiredly.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call someone?"

Hayley shook her head, "No, I'm alright." She said and laid back down. Hermione continued to stand beside her bed for a few seconds longer, looking as though she didn't really believe her. Eventually, she started to move away, back to her bed. Hayley quickly grabbed the other girl's arm, causing her to stop and look back, "Thank you…for being concerned."

Hermione was silent for a short time before finally saying, "I still think you should tell someone."

Hayley let go of her arm, "I'm not going to waste anyone's time just because I had a nightmare that I can't even remember."

The brunette looked like she was going to say something, but just continued to her bed and laid down. Hayley turned over and faced away from Hermione's bed in order to try to get some sleep, but before she could she heard her name being called.

"Hayley?"

The black haired girl turned over again and looked at Hermione, "Yes?"

"I _am_ sorry." She said quietly.

Hayley could hear the sincerity in her voice and it made her question why she didn't just outright accept her apology before, when she gave it. After a second she nodded her head slightly, the other girl didn't have to say what she was apologizing for, she already knew. "I know…so am I." She said and paused for a moment, "What do you say we forget all of that and we just start over tomorrow?" Hayley could see the other girl smile from her vantage point, and she did the same.

"I'd like that." Hermione whispered her response, but Hayley still heard her.

"Okay, goodnight Hermione."

"Goodnight Hayley."

Hayley nodded and turned over again and shut her eyes, hoping for the remainder of her night to be peaceful. It didn't take long for her to fall back asleep, her earlier nightmare far from her mind.

End ch.4  
~~**~~

Well, another chapter down. I got through the sorting, so class starts next chapter. I do like writing my variations more so than following the path of the book, but I sort of feel at least through the first couple books should follow close what JK laid out. That brings me to a review I got of the last chapter…

CR4, there will be more and more 'branching' as the story goes on. In this chapter for instance, there were a few more, like the boat ride to Hogwarts and the nightmare at the end of the chapter. I promise there will be more the farther into the story I get. Really there is so much more to do (change) when I reach Prisoner of Azkaban, you'll see. I have my mind set on how I'm going to do things, and I don't usually vary from my plans in my stories.

Okay with that said, please let me know what you think of the new installment, everyone! I'm a starving writer and I live off reviews…lol :) Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Potions and Broomsticks

~~**~~  
Chapter 5 – Potions and Broomsticks  
~~**~~

Hayley cracked open her eyes and inspected her surroundings. Sure enough she was still at Hogwarts. She was still having a hard time believing this was reality, but there was no way she could mistake this for being the Dursleys residence, even in her wildest imaginations. This was_ real_ and she was going to do her best. She laid in bed for a few more minutes, when she noticed something else…her head didn't hurt. She was really relieved to not feel her head throbbing. She was beginning to think something might be wrong with her and since it hadn't really gone away, but now that it finally had she let out a soft sigh, 'Maybe I just needed a good sleep.' She thought to herself.

Hayley sat up and lazily stretched her arms above her head. She took a quick look around the room and could see Lavender, Fay, and Parvati where still sleeping. She wasn't surprised to see Hermione wasn't in her bed, 'She's probably waiting outside our first class.' She thought and laughed lightly, when she heard the dorm room's door open. Hayley looked over and saw Hermione was coming into the room.

Hermione paused briefly, when she saw Hayley sitting on her bed, "Oh, you are awake. I was just going to tell you to get up."

Hayley gave her a small smile, "I just woke up actually."

The brunette walked a little further into the room and nodded, "Okay, you should get ready soon because our schedule was posted in the common room and we have Herbology just after breakfast today."

"Okay." Hayley said quietly and watched the other girl head towards the other three beds in the room. "Are you going to wake them up now?"

Hermione paused and looked at her roommate, "Yes."

"Can you give me a couple minutes head start? I'd rather not have more questions thrown at me already." Hayley said and jumped down from her bed and went over to her trunk.

"You can't avoid them forever, you know. I only bought you a little time last night. You'll be staying in the same dorm room for the next seven years."

The black haired girl looked over her shoulder, "I know, but I'm going to avoid it as long as I can." She said and flashed a small smile at her roommate.

Hermione shook her head, "Alright, but only a couple minutes." She said and took a seat on her already made bed.

Hayley stood up and looked at the brunette for a moment, "Thanks." She said and made her move to the door before pausing and looking back, "Where is the shower anyway?"

"Down the hall and to the left after the dorms."

The dark haired girl nodded and was quickly out the door.

* * *

"Let's wait for Ron in the Common Room." Hayley said and glanced over to Hermione, as they descended the stairs to the common room.

Hermione nodded her head, "Alright, but if he takes too long, I'm leaving without him."

When they made it into the circular room, Hayley took a seat on one of the sofas, while Hermione sat next to her. They sat in silence for a short time. Hayley would glance over to Hermione occasionally and noticed that she was looking more and more impatient, so she decided to strike up a conversation to distract her for a time. Hayley shifted a little and looked over to Hermione, "You said your parents aren't magical, right?" She asked.

Hermione gave a quick nod, "Yeah, they aren't. My mum and dad are both dentists."

"Do you have any siblings?" Hayley asked curiously.

"No, I'm an only child. The three of us live in a flat in London." She explained.

Hayley nodded, "I guess my situation is pretty well known…my parents are dead and I live with my mother's sister, her husband, and their son. They hate magic and they barely tolerate my existence."

Hermione frowned, "Are they really that bad?"

Hayley laughed a little at the question, "Yeah…" She said and explained what it was like living with the Dursleys.

When Ron made it to the common room he gave a strange look at the two girls chatting on one of the sofas. He approached them cautiously, unsure if they were arguing again. He was surprise they were having a normal conversation, "Morning Hayley." Ron said, announcing his presence.

Hayley looked up and saw the red head's confused expression, "Ready for breakfast?" She asked and he simply nodded, still looking confused so Hayley decided to explain. "We are roommates, so we decided it was better to give each other a fresh start instead of bicker."

"Let's get going. I don't want to potentially be late to class on our first day of lessons." Hermione said and got up, followed by Hayley. The trio then made their way to the dorm's exit. As soon as they left the dorm, chatter seemed to start…

"There, can't you see?"

"Where?"

"There…next to the red haired boy and the bushy haired girl."

"The one with glasses?"

"That's Hayley Potter?"

"Can you see the scar?"

Hayley groaned audibly at all the chatter, 'Is it seriously going to be like this every day?' This wasn't something she signed up for. Just finding her way to classes normally would be difficult enough, with the sheer amount of staircases, not to mention the ones that moved!

"You shouldn't listen to them."

Hayley looked to her left and saw Hermione looking at her, "It's a little hard when everyone is staring at me and talking about me." She paused for a moment and looked around the other students around her. She frowned at all the talk, "I mean, they aren't even trying to hide it."

"People will go about their own business eventually, I'm sure." Ron said on her other side.

The remainder of their walk to the Main Hall was filled even more talking and while Hayley tried to ignore all the stares and talk, she was not very successful. She silently hoped every day wasn't going to be like this.

* * *

Herbology was interesting, but she quickly realized there was a lot that she was going to have to learn. There was a lot more to magic than just waving a wand and saying a couple words. Herbology for instance, was about learning all sorts of plants and fungi, how to care for them and what each are used for. It was taught by a round woman named, Professor Sprout.

Their next class was History of Magic and much to Hayley's disappointment the class was as boring as the book that went with the subject. It was apparently the only subject taught by a ghost, Professor Binns. She learned that at some point years ago the professor had fallen asleep in the staff room one night and he simply got up the next morning, leaving his body behind. He was quite old at the time and he'd apparently passed away that night, but still got up to teach class just the same.

One would think having a ghost for a teacher would be interesting, but this class was far from it. Professor Binns spoke in a monotone voice and he _loved_ to talk. He made generous use of the chalk board as well, scribbling down many names and dates as he spoke. The most interesting part of the class was when he got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up and was corrected by Hermione, which earned Gryffindor a point.

The next class they had to attend was Charms. Professor Flickwick taught Charms. He was a very small wizard, who had to stand atop a large pile of books to be seen over his large desk. Professor Flickwick started class by doing a roll-call and everything went smoothly until he reached Hayley's name. The tiny wizard called out Hayley's name with a shout and seemingly lost his balance because he fell down, somewhere behind his desk, out of sight. He was only missing for a few seconds, but it still brought a loud roar of laughter from the first years.

Charms seemed to be the most useful and interesting class so far. They didn't perform any magic on the first day of class, but Hayley could tell there were so many things she would learn in this class.

Transfiguration was the next class she had to attend. This class was taught by the head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall. She came across just as strict as she appeared on the night all the first years were sorted. As soon as all the class was seated, she got straight to the point, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic that you will learn within these walls." She paused and eyed all the students to make sure they understood exactly what she was saying, "I will not tolerate anyone messing around in my class. If you choose to mess around despite this warning, you will leave my class and you will not come back."

Professor McGonagall then turned around and pointed her wand at her desk, at least when Hayley first looked it was desk, and gave a flick of her wrist. In a moment, the desk was turned into a pig, a real pig, before she flicked her wand again and the pig turned back into a desk. There were a few gasps from the first years as they watched the example of transfiguration. "That is only an example of the kind of things you'll be able to do should work hard and gain a mastery of transfiguration."

After taking a couple pages worth of complicated notes about the nuances of beginner transfiguration, she handed out a match to each student. "We are going to transfigure this match into a needle…" Professor McGonagall then went over how exactly they were expected to change the match, giving them the remainder of period to try and complete their task.

Everyone worked on trying to change the match, but nearly everyone was still left with a simple match by the end of class. When Professor McGonagall looked over everyone progress, she stopped at Hermione's. She picked up the half-needle half-match and showed it to the class. It wasn't true needle, but Hermione was able to change the match silver and made one end pointy, that was far more than anyone else was able to accomplish. "Very good work, Miss Granger, one point to Gryffindor." Their professor said, cracking a rare smile, before dismissing the class.

The next class Hayley was to attend was one she was really looking forward to, but it unfortunately ended up being a bit of a joke. Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught by Professor Quirrell. Firstly the classroom reeked of garlic. Rumor had it, Quirrell had fought a vampire in Romania and the smell was to ward off him and any other vampires. Hayley wasn't entirely sure that she believed that rumor though. Professor Quirrell told them his turban had been a gift given to him by an African prince as a thank you for getting rid of a zombie. That was another story she didn't entirely believed, especially when he was asked _how_ he drove it off, but rather than answering the question, he changed the subject.

Hayley was relieved to find out there were plenty of students who came from Muggle families, so she wasn't as far behind as she originally feared. And even those that grew up around magic, like Ron, didn't seem to have much of a head start, aside from knowledge of the wizarding world itself and that she was sure she'd come to learn over time.

* * *

By the time Friday rolled around there was only one class they'd yet to attend…

"Potions…that's taught by Professor Snape isn't it?" Hayley asked Ron and Hermione as they sat down to breakfast.

"Yeah, he's the head of Slytherin. I hear that he favors students from his own house." Ron said and took a bite of French toast.

"Professor McGonagall is head of Gryffindor and she doesn't favor us." Hermione pointed out.

Hayley laughed, "I wish she did some times. It seems that she hardest on us."

"Professor McGonagall just expects more for us, that's all. She's fair to everyone in class and I think that's best." Hermione said.

Ron scoffed at the brunette's statement, "Easy for you to say when you are the only one showing any progress at all in class."

"That's because I work hard, Ron." Hermione replied quickly.

Hayley noticed Ron was going to say something, when she spoke up before him, "Okay…I don't think Ron was questioning how hard you work."

Just then the owls swooped in for the morning post. Hayley was used this by now, though the first time it did surprise her. She didn't expect to receive anything, who would send her anything after all, certainly not the Dursleys. She was shocked when Hedwig came in and dropped a letter on her plate. She looked at the letter curiously for a moment, it was written in some untidy handwriting so she moved to pick it up when she felt Hedwig nibble on her ear, "Okay…" She said and grabbed a piece of toast and handed it up to her owl, she was now allowed to open the letter.

_Dear Hayley,  
I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to  
come by and have a cup of tea with me? I want to hear  
how all your classes are going. Just send a reply back with Hedwig.  
Hagrid_

Hayley looked around quickly and saw Ron had a quill in his pocket. She quickly swiped it and turned the letter over and wrote…_Yes, please. I'll see you later._ She folded the letter back up and handed it back to Hedwig. She took the letter and quickly flew off again.

* * *

Potions took place in one of dungeons, on one of the lower levels. As Hayley entered the classroom for potions, she looked around and saw it looked very different from all her other classes. This room was very dark and quite cold as well. There were a number of tables with two seats positioned from the front of the class to the back of the classroom. The room had enough space to accommodate a very large class, probably at least forty students. Hayley looked around, but was surprised when she didn't see Snape anywhere.

Hayley jumped slightly when she heard something slam behind her. She quickly turned in her seat and saw Professor Snape walking swiftly down the center of the room between the sets of tables. He flicked his wand at every set of windows he was even with, closing the shutters and leaving the room even darker. The only light now came from the candles on the wall. In moments, Snape made his way to the front of the room and quickly turned around, holding a paper in his hand.

"When I call your name, you will say present." Snape said and brought his eyes to the paper he had. He read off name after name without skipping a beat until he called out Parvati Patil. "Ah, yes." He said quietly. "Hayley Potter. Our new _celebrity_…" He said the last word with a great amount of disdain.

Hayley could hear some laughing coming from where she saw Malfoy and his goons sit, but she kept her attention of the professor staring at her. She tried to convince herself that originally her mind was playing tricks on her at the banquet on her first night, but he really _did_ seem to not like her for some reason. 'What does he have against me?' She thought and glared firmly at the black eyed man. After no more than a second more, he continued the roll call until all the students had been accounted for.

Snape went over to his desk at the front of class and put the paper down before turning back to the group of students. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making." He told the class. He was very much like Professor McGonagall in that when he spoke he had an air about him that warned everyone to be silent as he spoke.

"There will be little foolish wand waving in my classroom. I don't expect many of you will really truly understand the beauty of a softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human body, bewitching the mind and ensnaring the senses. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put of stopper on death….if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach that is."

The room grew silent after Snape's speech. It was certainly something to hear what potions were capable of. Hayley gave a quick glance over to Ron and could see he was impressed as well. When she turned back to the front of class, Hayley's eyes caught Hermione inching closer to the edge of her seat eagerly. 'I'm sure she's confident in her knowledge. I just wish I was…'

"Potter!" Snape called out suddenly, causing Hayley to jump in her seat. "What would I get if I added powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" He questioned and looked stared at her expectantly.

'Root of what? Asphodel?' She tried to rake her mind for an answer, but nothing came. Out of the corner of her eye, Hayley could see Hermione eagerly raising her hand, clearly knowing the answer. She cast a sideways glance to Ron beside her, but he looked just as stumped as she was. 'Why didn't I sit next to Hermione? Or at least opened my Potions textbook?' She asked herself. There wasn't any sense in guessing, because she most certainly would not be able to guess the right answer, "I don't know, sir."

One side of his lips curled into a half-smile. He looked almost pleased that she didn't know the answer. "Clearly fame isn't everything…" He muttered and took a stepped closer to her table, not even looking see if anyone else may have the answer. "Why don't we try again?" He said and paused his approached, "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

A confused expression crossed Hayley's features, 'What is a bezoar?' She asked herself, but it wasn't any term she'd heard before now. She could see Hermione was stretching her arm as high in to the air as she could without standing up. She could hear laughing coming from one of the table behind her, but she didn't need to look to see who it was. She really would have liked to tell Malfoy and his two henchmen to shut up, but she knew that certainly wouldn't make things any better for her. "I don't know, sir."

"Did you really think you would get by on fame alone and not even have to open a book?" Snape questioned snidely.

There was no doubt in her mind now…Snape down right hated her but she had no idea why. 'Is it because I'm famous…because that wasn't exactly my choice.' She thought to herself. She maintained eye contact with the Professor, not intending to back down, even though he was really making her look completely stupid in front of the entire class. She couldn't help but see how lifeless his black eyes appeared to be, especially if she compared them to Hagrid's, who had similarly dark eyes. However, Hagrid's eyes sparkled with life and warmth, the opposite of Snape's.

"Potter, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked, continuing to focus on Hayley, blatantly ignoring, Hermione, the only student with their hand raised.

"I don't know." Hayley said quietly and gave a quick look around the room. "Why don't try someone else though? Hermione seems confident in her answers." Hayley could hear a couple people laugh around her, including Ron beside her and Seamus, in the table in front of her. She didn't really intend to be funny, she was mostly serious.

"Sit down!" Snape snapped at Hermione. Hayley could see Hermione flinch out of the corner of her eye, and felt sorry for drawing his attention toward her. As soon as she sat down he brought his attention back to Hayley. "For your information Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which goes by the name of aconite." Snape rattled off all the answers to his questions, before turning towards the rest of the class, "Why aren't all of you copying that down?" He questioned before beginning to walk to the front of the room.

The sound of quills scribbling on parchment quickly filled the room before Snape spoke again, "Oh and a point from Gryffindor because of your cheek, Potter."

Hayley frowned at Snape's back, 'I wasn't being cheeky! I shouldn't have needed to answer all of those questions! He should have asked the entire class.'

Snape quickly turned around, his cape whipping around with him, "Turn to page 34. We are going to brew a simple potion to cure boils. The person sitting to your left will be your partner." He paused for a moment while all the students hurriedly opened up their textbooks, "You will have 45 minutes to brew your potion."

Everyone frantically searched for the recipe for the potion their professor was asking for and once everyone found it, they all went about trying to create the potion. After about ten minutes, Snape began walking around the room, inspecting everyone's progress. He criticized every single potion, until finally coming to Malfoy's, "See, this is the perfect way to stew your horned slugs…" He began saying, when clouds of green smoke filled the room, followed by a loud hiss. Snape walked into the direction of all the commotion and saw Neville covered in the potion. He was on the ground moaning in pain as red boils began to cover his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" Snape sneered and gave a quick wave of his wand, dispelling all of the potion. "I guess you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" The hook nosed professor turned to Seamus, "Take him the hospital wing." He snapped. He then turned his attention to Hayley and Ron, "Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Did you think it would make you look good when he got it wrong? That'll be another point from Gryffindor!"

'How exactly is it my fault that the pair next to me messed up their potion? I was too focused on not screwing up my own potion.' Hayley quickly opened her mouth to argue, when she felt someone kick her under the table. She turned her attention to Ron and glared at him, "What was that for?"

"Snape can get really nasty, so don't push it." Ron whispered back. She continued to stare at Ron a little longer before facing forward again, not saying anything.

The next hour passed incredibly slowly. The only thing she was grateful for was that Snape didn't target her again for the duration of class. The potions master had made her look like a fool multiple times and she'd even lost her house two points, for no valid reason, as far as she was concerned.

"Chin up. Snape's always taking points from Fred and George." Ron said with a small smile. Hayley gave him a small nod, "Say, can I come with you to meet Hagrid?"

Hayley brightened up a bit, she completely forgotten about agreeing to go over to Hagrid's. "Sure." She agreed and the both of them hurried out of the dungeons, not noticing one of their housemates looking at them as they hurried up the stairs.

* * *

Hayley knocked on small wooden house's door. They could hear some commotion inside, followed by Hagrid saying, "Back Fang…back." After a few seconds, the door creaked open and Hagrid poked his head through, "Hang on." He said and opened the door further. He was pulling back a huge boarhound by his collar, "Back, Fang." He said once more before looking at Hayley and her companion, "Come in, make yourselves at home." He said and pause when he noticed them staring at the black hound, "He's not dangerous, but he does get excited to meet new visitors."

When they entered, they noticed his house was indeed as small as it appeared from the outside, there was only one room. Hagrid had hams and pheasants hanging from the ceiling as well as a kettle boiling on an open fire on the opposite wall. In the corner there was a large bed, with a patchwork quilt laid upon it. When the door was closed Hagrid finally let go of Fang and he immediately bound toward Ron and knocked him to the ground, licking him.

"This is Ron." Hayley said and motioned to the boy being licked.

Hagrid turned around from the fire, where he was pouring the kettle's contents into three cups, "Back Fang." Hagrid said quickly and boarhound finally got off of Ron, allowing him to get a good look at him. "Ah, another Weasley? I spent the last two years of my life chasin' yer brothers away from that forest." He said and pointed toward the forest behind his hut. He turned back to the fire and again finished preparing the cups of tea. He walked over to where his two companions were sitting. He gave both of them a plate with a rock cake and cup of tea. Hayley and Ron both tried to take a bite out of the rock cakes, but found them to be almost impossible to eat. They did their best to pretend they were enjoying them, for Hagrid's sake though.

"So, how are yer lessons?" The large man asked.

Hayley and Ron told him about how everything had gone so far and eventually came to the class they had just left, Potions. "Snape doesn't like me though for some reason." Hayley told Hagrid.

"I don't think yah should worry too much. Snape doesn't like many students." Hagrid explained calmly.

Hayley frowned, "But he _really_ seemed to hate me."

"That's rubbish!" Hagrid said and paused before asking, "Why would he?" Hayley stared at him for a moment, but he didn't say anything more on the subject. Instead, he turned to Ron, "How's yer brother Charlie? I really liked him; he was great with the animals."

She couldn't help but feel that the giant of a man purposely changed the subject away from Snape. She could tell that he was interested in Charlie's work with dragons, so maybe their conversation would have eventually led them to the subject of Ron's brother anyway. Hayley looked around the small living area when her eyes could sight of a piece of newspaper sitting on the table, by a mug. Her curiosity got the better of her and she reached over and grabbed the piece of paper to see what article may have been clipped from the newspaper. She looked at the paper and her eyes widened at the headline. '_Gringotts Break-in Latest_' She read to herself before quickly beginning to read the entire article.

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on July 31__st__,  
widely believed to be the work of unknown Dark wizards or witches.  
Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken.  
The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.  
"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses  
out of it if you know what's good for you." Said a  
Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon._

As soon as she finished the article, she remembered Ron telling her about the attempted robbery of Gringotts, but he hadn't told her when the robbery took place. She quickly looked over to the large man in the room, "Hagrid! That break-in at Gringotts happened on my birthday! Do you think we could have been there when it happened?" Hagrid quickly looked away from Hayley, causing her interest to be peaked. He was definitely not telling her something.

"Yah shouldn't worry about that." He said quietly and looked around for a moment. He grabbed a plate and offered it to Hayley, "'Nother rock cake?"

Hayley shook her head, "No thank you." She said politely and looked at article again. '_The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day…_' She glanced over to Hagrid as he talked to Ron. There was no doubt in her mind now; Hagrid knew more than he was letting on and it most likely had to do with whatever was in vault 713, the vault he'd emptied.

"Both of yah should be headin' back the castle now, it's gettin' late." Hagrid said as he stood up. The two first years nodded and got up as well.

* * *

Hayley and Ron both made their way back to the castle, their pants being weighed down by several rock cakes, each being too polite to refuse them from the large gamekeeper.

Her visit with Hagrid had been very insightful; she'd learn a number of interesting things. Firstly, Hagrid was an awful liar. Secondly, whatever was in the vault that Hagrid emptied was mostly the thing that the culprit was looking for. Lastly, Hagrid was evasive when she talked to him about Snape. However, her discovers only brought on more questions. Why was he hiding something he knew about Snape from her? What exactly was in vault 713? And maybe more importantly, where is it now?

"Hagrid is a nice fella, but his cooking isn't so good." Ron said and pulled a rock cake out of his pocket, hitting the ably name _rock_ cake with his free hand and barely causing any damage to it.

Hayley laughed, "I guess the name suits them though."

"You got that right." Ron agreed.

By now they were nearly at the castle. They quickly disposed of the nearly inedible cakes into the nearest trashcan they came across. When Hayley and Ron entered the Main Hall, supper was already on the four house tables, so they quickly made their way over to the Gryffindor table. There were a few open spots by Ron's brothers and Hermione, who was sitting next to them as well.

"Hey, Hermione." Hayley said casually and sat down in the spot next to the aforementioned girl. Hermione looked over to Hayley for a moment, but turned back to her food without saying anything. Hayley looked at her strangely for a second before shaking her head slightly and loading her plate with food.

Hayley eat her dinner without saying much, her mind still on what learned at Hagrid's. Her curiosity was definitely peaked and she _really_ wanted to know what was in that vault, vault 713. It had to be something of value if someone would risk breaking into that goblin bank, especially after how secure Hagrid had told her it was.

"…Snape was especially hard on Hayley, wasn't he?"

Hayley looked up when she heard her name and saw Ron and his twin brothers looking at her, "Y-Yeah, he doesn't like me for some reason. I lost our house two points."

"Only two?" George asked and received a nod from Hayley in response.

"That's nothing. In our second year, George and I lost Gryffindor ten points during one of our potions classes with Snape." Fred said, almost proudly.

"It was eleven." George corrected and caused his twin to look at him.

"No, it was ten. I got five and you got five." Fred argued.

"No, I got five and you got six." George countered.

Fred seemed to think about it for a moment before smiling and saying, "Oh yeah, it was eleven."

Hayley laughed at the twins, "I guess I shouldn't feel too bad then."

"Right, Snape will find any reason to take points away from Gryffindor, so don't think too much of it." George said reassuringly.

Hayley smiled and nodded. She grabbed her goblet and took a drink of pumpkin juice. When she put her drink down, she looked to her left; realizing Hermione had been freakishly quiet. But when she looked over, she saw the other girl wasn't even at the table any longer. "Where did Hermione go?" She asked the table, but only received shrugs from everyone. Hayley finished what was left on her plate before saying, "I'm going to turn in. It's been a long day." She said and got up.

Hayley exited the Main Hall and made her way through the castle to the Gryffindor dorms. When she reached the portrait of the fat lady, she gave her the password and headed through small passageway. When she entered the common room, she looked around, but still didn't see Hermione. 'Did she go up to our dorm room?' Hayley asked herself as she ascended the stairs. She reached her room quickly and saw Hermione sitting on her bed reading a book. Hayley walked in slowly, not immediately being noticed, "What are you reading?" She asked, cautiously testing the waters. Hermione didn't respond, aside from shutting her book. 'Okay…let me try something else.' She thought and stepped even with her bed. "If this about Snape snapping at you, I'm sorry. I didn't think he was going to do that. I just thought he was unfairly singling me out…" Hayley said, rambling on until she was cut off.

"You could have invited me along too." Hermione said quietly.

"W-What?" Hayley asked unsure as to what the other girl was talking about.

"To Hagrid's. I heard you and Ron talking about it after potions. You walked right passed me and didn't even stop to ask if I wanted to go." Hermione said finally looking at Hayley.

"I didn't really _invite_ Ron. He sort of invited himself." Hayley explained and paused to think what happened after potions. She really didn't even remember seeing the other girl, "I guess I didn't really think about it. I just wanted to get as far away from potions as possible." Hayley said honestly.

"You could have at least offered, I thought we were friends." Hermione said sadly.

"We are. I really didn't even see you and I wasn't really thinking straight either because I was still annoyed about Snape." Hayley said and sat on her bed. "I'm sorry. I'm not really used to this friend thing. I never really had any, Dudley made sure of that, but I'll try to be better." She said and looked at her housemate.

Hermione was looking down and shook her head before looking up again, "No, it's not your fault. I know Professor Snape was rough on you, so it only makes sense that you would be upset. I don't know why it upset me." She said and paused for a moment, "I guess it's because you and I guess Ron too are the only ones that I feel like I've become friends with."

Hayley nodded her head, "I feel the same. You and Ron are they only ones that have looked at me more than just '_the girl who lived_'" She said corrected the pronoun from the phrase she Ron had told her on the train. She saw Hermione nod across from her, "I'm glad we got that sorted out, because I really didn't want to lose a friend after we just became friends. And I don't know about you, but I'm beat, so I'm going to sleep." She said and flopped on to her bed and smiled.

"So am I." Hermione admitted with a small smile.

"See you tomorrow morning." The black haired girl said as she got herself into a more comfortable position.

"Yeah." The brunette said and nodded her head.

* * *

When Hayley woke up the next morning, she was surprised that Hermione hadn't woken her up, as she seemed to do most mornings. In fact, Hermione was nowhere to be seen. She shook her head and went to her trunk to get her stuff for the day.

After cleaning up, she made her way into the common room, still no Hermione, but there was a new notice posted. She quickly made her way over and read what it had to say. She was initially excited about the flying lessons and then she continued to read and saw they had flying lessons with…Slytherin. She groaned to herself, "That's just perfect. I get to make a fool out of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy and his goons." She said and groaned again. Hayley jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked and saw Ron behind her.

"You don't know that you'll make a fool of yourself." He said and paused to add, "Malfoy is always going on about how good he is a Quidditch, but I'd bet anything that it's just all talk."

Hayley laughed quietly, 'Malfoy definitely liked to boast about how good he was on a broomstick.' She admitted to herself, but she also had to admit that there was plenty of boasting from a number of first years. 'I wouldn't be surprised if all their boasts were nothing more than that boasts.'

"Let's head down to breakfast, I'm starving." Ron said, even as he made his way towards the portrait hole.

Hayley nodded, "Okay." She said and followed him.

When they made it down to the Main Hall the Gryffindor table was abuzz with talk about their first flying lesson.

"I've never been on a broom before." Neville admitted before adding, "Gram never let me get near one."

'I'm not surprised.' Hayley told herself, 'He gets in more than enough trouble with both of his feet on the ground.' She looked down the table and saw Hermione for the first time, since the previous night. She could help but notice that the other girl looked as pale as ghost. She craned her neck and saw that she was reading a book…'Quidditch Through the Ages' read the title. 'I guess she went down to the library to get that book this morning after learning about our flying lessons.' Hayley thought to herself. Hermione looked even more nervous than Neville. When Neville realized what she was reading, he asked her to tell him any tips the book had, which Hermione happily provided. Just when Hermione reached 'The Finer Points of Mounting Your Broomstick', the owls swooped in to deliver the mail.

A package dropped in front of Neville and he quickly opened it. He let out a delighted cheer as he showed those at his table, "It's a Remembrall!" He said and went on to explain, "Gram knows I'm always forgetting things and this tells you if you've forgotten something." He said excitedly. "You just hold it like this and if…" He started when Just then the ball, which had been filled with a white smoke, turned red. "…if it turns red, that means you forgotten something…" He finished and looked off in thought, trying to remember what he had forgotten.

As Neville thought, Malfoy had made his way over to the Gryffindor table and snatched the Remembrall from his hands. Ron jumped to his feet, while Hayley looked like she wasn't going to be too far behind him, when they were interrupted.

"What's going on here?" Everyone turned to see Professor McGonagall standing beside their table, watching the situation. She seemed to have some kind of trouble detector because she got there before anything could happen.

"He took my Remembrall, Professor."

Glaring at the Gryffindor table, Malfoy quickly dropped the Remembrall on to the table, "Just looking." He mumbled as he walked back to the Slytherin table.

* * *

When they made it out into the field on the left side of the castle, everyone could see two lines of broomsticks laying on the ground. Their instructor was already waiting from them when they arrived, "I am Madam Hooch and welcome to your first flying lesson." She said cheerfully and motioned to her left, "Slytherin on the left and Gryffindor on the right."

"Alright, everyone step up to your brooms and put your hand over it and say 'Up!'" Madam Hooch told the group of students.

Hayley held her hand over her broom and called, "Up!" To her surprise, the broom shot off the ground into her hand. "Wow…" She muttered and looked around to see how everyone was doing. Only a couple students were successful. She looked over to Hermione and saw that she was getting frustrated. Her broom would move around and sometimes lift off the ground a little, but it never quite responded as it should.

"You've got to tell it firmly. Don't be afraid." Hayley instructed the brunette beside her. Hermione looked over to her for a moment, but didn't say anything. She turned her focus back to her broom.

Hayley watched her take a deep breath before saying, "Up!" The black haired girl couldn't help but giggle when Hermione jumped slightly as the broom jumped into her hand. "See, I told you." Hayley said confidently and turned to look to see how Ron was doing, without waiting for Hermione's reaction.

If Hermione made her giggle, Ron made her outright laugh. Ron looked even more frustrated than Hermione did a few moments ago, so she could hear him yelled, 'UP!' at the broom. Sure enough the broom leapt off the ground and smacked Ron squarely in the face. She felt a little bad for laughing, but it was just too hilarious not to.

After a short time everyone had their brooms in their hands, even though were still not successful in calling their brooms to their hands. Madam Hooch stepped in the middle of the two houses, "Okay, now we are going to mount our brooms. I'll show you the proper way, so you don't fall off and then all of you will do the same." She said and mounted her broom, explaining her foot and hand placement as she did. "Now, all of you do the same." She said and got off her broomstick.

She walked down the line of students and look over their form. Hayley was especially pleased when she stopped in front of Malfoy. "Is that how you've always ridden your broom, boy?" Madam Hooch asked and received a nod from the blond haired boy. "It's a wonder you haven't broken your neck yet." She said and proceeded to show him the proper way.

Once her inspection was done she in the middle of the field, between the two houses again. "When I blow my whistle, I want all of you to kick off the ground hard." She said and looked up and down the students. "Keep your brooms steady and rise off the ground a few feet, then tilt your broom forward slight and come back down. On my whistle…" She said and raised her hand as well as bringing her whistle to her mouth, "Three…two…"

Neville must have been too nervous because when she reached two, he kicked off the ground as hard as he could and shot straight into the air.

"Mr. Longbottom! Come back down this instant!" Madam Hooch called, but Neville continue to travel higher and higher, until he lost his grip and slipped sideways off the broom. The Gryffindors gasped as they watched Neville fall from what looked to be at least 20 feet in the air. He hit the ground with a sickening cracking sound. Madam Hooch was at his side as soon as he hit the ground. She turned him over and inspected him for a moment before muttering, "Broken wrist….come on, boy. You'll be fine. Let's get up." She said and helped him to his feet.

Madam Hooch started to head back to the castle when she turned around, "None of you move until I get back from the hospital wing. If anyone uses those brooms, I promise you will be out of Hogwarts quicker than you can say 'Quidditch.'" She warned before continuing into the castle with Neville.

As soon as they were out of earshot Malfoy burst into laughter, "Did you see his face?" He asked his fellow housemates, causing all of them to join in on his laughter.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Parvati Patil snapped angrily.

"Sticking up for Longbottom are you?" Pansy Parkinson questioned with a snort. "Who would have thought you'd like fat crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" Malfoy called out suddenly as he reached down to pick up something. "Well if it isn't the dumb thing Longbottom's gran sent him." He said and held the Remembrall up.

Hayley glared at the Slytherin boy, "Hand it over." She said quickly and stepped closer to the group of Slytherin students. Everyone seemed to get really quiet as they watched their exchange, almost as though they could feel the tension in the air.

Malfoy smirked and tossed the glittering ball into the air and caught it, "I got a better idea…" He said and mounted his broom. "Why don't I hide it somewhere for Longbottom to find?" He said and kicked off the ground, soaring into the air.

Hayley watched him fly for a few moments, when she realized something, he _really_ could fly well. "Give it _here_!" Hayley called from the ground.

"If you want it…come and get it, Potter!" Malfoy yelled as he rose higher into the air.

Hayley ran back to her broomstick and put her hand over it and called, "Up!" She felt a hand on her shoulder when she mounted her broom. She followed the arm up to its owner and saw Hermione looking at her.

"Hayley, don't!" Hermione told the girl next to her, "Madam Hooch told us not to move. You'll get us all into trouble!"

The black haired girl shrugged Hermione's hand off and ignored her and kicked off the ground. If there was one thing she could stand, it was bullies. She knew all about them from firsthand experience. She couldn't do anything about Dudley and his gang, but here she could do something and she wasn't going to just sit idly by. As soon as she was in the air, she was surprised by how easy flying was. She could feel the wind blow through her hair and she could feel her robe whipping around as she soared. She was overcome by a sense of joy, 'There is actually something I can do without instruction.' She told herself cheerfully. She pulled her broom handle up slightly and she went even higher, she almost even with Malfoy. Beneath her, she could hear gasps and screams from what sounded like some of the girls present, but she didn't look. 'Am I really doing something so dangerous?' She asked herself, but she could also hear Ron cheering her to get Malfoy. She turned her broomstick sharply to her right and came face to face with a stunned looking Draco Malfoy.

Hayley held out one hand, hearing couple loud screams when she did, but her attention was on the blond haired boy in front of her. "Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off of your broom." She threatened.

His earlier shock forgotten, at least partially, as he said, "Oh yeah? Just try it."

It was by nothing more than instinct that she _knew_ what do. She grabbed her broom with both hands again and leaned forward. She shot towards Malfoy like a bullet out of a gun. All Malfoy could do was move out of the way, just barely getting out of Hayley's way. Hayley quickly swept back around and found herself face to face with the blond again.

"You don't look like you're so tough without Crabbe and Goyle to save your neck, Malfoy." Hayley called over.

A look of realization flashed over the Malfoy's face, he was definitely alone up there, but he had one more trick he could use, "Why don't you try to catch it if you can then?" He said and threw the small ball towards the castle.

Her eyes were on the ball, but out of the corner of her eyes she could see Malfoy had retreated back to the ground. She didn't pay too much attention to him because she knew if she waited another moment, Neville's Remembrall would crash against the side of the castle. She quickly leaned her broom in the direction the small object traveled and zoomed after it. She could hear the wind whistle in her ears as she flew at a break neck speed. Hayley could faintly hear more screams as she got closer and closer to the castle wall. She reached out her arm, 'Almost…there…' She told herself as she urged her broom to increase its speed, 'Just a little more…' She thought and reached a little bit more, finally grabbing the small round device, just before she could collide with stone wall.

She quickly pulled her broomstick to her left, barely avoiding the wall; in fact she could feel her feet skim the rough surface. Hayley did a wide turn away from the school and tilted her broomstick down, toward the ground, descending quickly. Her landing wasn't as smoothly as the flight was. Once her feet touched the ground, she realized she had gathered too much speed, so she was forced to run as soon as she landed or risk falling flat on her face. She could hear cheers from her house and they brought a smile to her face, but as often seem to be the case, her joy was quickly squashed.

"HAYLEY POTTER!"

Hayley blanched at the stern voice calling her name. She slowly turned around and saw the head of her house, Professor McGonagall running toward the class from the castle.

"Never…in all my years at Hogwarts…" The professor said, almost sounding a loss for words. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, "What were you thinking? You could have broken your neck…or worse!"

"Professor, it wasn't her fault…"

Professor McGonagall turned sharply to Hayley roommate who spoke up, "Be quiet Miss Patil."

"But Malfoy…" Ron started to say, but again another defense was cut off by the professor.

"That's _enough_ Mr. Weasley! Potter, follow me this instant." Professor McGonagall said, finishing by looking at Hayley.

Hayley nodded her head slowly and silently walked behind the older woman back to the castle. As she followed the professor, she saw looks triumph on three faces, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Her heart sank as she thought about what Professor McGonagall might have in store for her. She had disobeyed her teacher's instructions to stay put and as was pointed out to her, she could have killed herself. She didn't think that would have happened though because there was no point where she didn't feel in control of herself as she flew. She hoped that she wasn't going to be expelled. That was the worst possible thing she could think of.

Professor McGonagall walked swiftly through the castle. Hayley was growing concerned because her professor wasn't even saying a word to her. 'Perhaps she's taking me to Dumbledore?' She thought and felt as though her stomach was in knots. 'I don't want to be expelled.' She thought. She swallowed back a lump that had stubbornly decided to form her throat. "Professor…I…" Hayley started to say, but was cut off as the professor leading her through the school came to a stop outside a class room.

"Be quiet, Potter." The professor said quickly and knocked the door lightly. She opened the door after knocking and stuck her head inside, "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, but might I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Hayley's eyes widened, 'Wood? Am I going to be beaten?' She unconsciously took a step back, but after a moment a burly boy stepped out of the classroom and looked confused.

"Both of you follow me." Professor McGonagall ordered and began walking down the hall again. Wood was looking at Hayley curiously, just as she was looking at him. "In here." She directed and all three of them entered a virtually empty classroom, expect for Peeves, who was writing crude words on the blackboard. "Out, Peeves!" The professor yelled at the poltergeist. Peeves shirked and threw the chalk he was using into a nearby wastebasket, but he did leave as he was ordered.

Professor McGonagall slammed the door shut when the ghost left and turned her attention back to the two students with her, "Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I'm pleased to tell you that I've found you a Seeker."

Wood's initial confusion quickly disappeared, replaced with excitement, "Seriously Professor?"

"Absolutely! I've never seen someone more apt with a broomstick. Was that your first time on a broomstick, Potter?" The professor asked, turning to Hayley.

Hayley nodded her head slowly, still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. She could tell she wasn't going to be expelled, much to her relief, and she knew she heard the word Seeker before somewhere…

"She caught that thing in her hand at full speed about a foot in front of the castle wall and doesn't even have a scratch on her. She did a 90 degree turn in a fraction of a second. I don't think even Charlie Weasley could have done that." Professor McGonagall said with excitement.

Wood looked positively delighted when looked over to Hayley, "Have you ever seen a game of Quidditch?"

"Wood is the captain of the Gryffindor team." The professor explained, noticing Hayley's confused face.

Wood walked around Hayley, looking her over, "She's got the right build too." He said and paused in thought, "She's light and I'm sure speedy on the broom." He commented and looked over the professor, "We'll need to get her a decent broom though, to match her talents. I'd say a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleensweep Seven would be right for her."

"I'll have a talk with Professor Dumbledore. I think we can bend the rules once. We certainly need to put out a better team than last year. Being completely trounced by Slytherin…I couldn't look Severus in the eyes for weeks…" She turned to Hayley with a stern expression, "I want to hear you're working hard, Potter, or I'll reconsider not punishing you."

Hayley nodded quickly, she wasn't entirely sure what she'd gotten herself into, but she knew it was certainly better than being punished. She was surprised when she noticed the Transfiguration professor was smiling.

"Your father would have been so proud. He was an excellent Quidditch player when he was at school." Professor McGonagall told her with a hint of sadness. She looked away for a second before looking at the two students again, with her usual serious expression, "Wood, you can return to class. Potter, you don't have any more classes today, so just go to the common room." She instructed and they both began to leave when the head of their house spoke one more time, "Wood. Potter. I don't want you telling anyone about this. We're going to keep this very hushed until our first match." They both nodded and left the classroom.

As soon as they were out in the hall Wood turned to Hayley, "I'll let you know when your first training session is." He said and hurried down the hall, Hayley couldn't help but notice there seemed to be a bounce in his step that wasn't there before.

'I hope Quidditch isn't as hard as Ron made it sound.' Hayley thought to herself as she started to make her way the Gryffindor common room.

End Ch.5

* * *

That took a little longer than I thought it would, but I did everything I wanted to in this chapter, so I'm relatively satisfied (I'm never completely satisfied). It also ended up being a bit longer than I thought it was going to be, but not much I can do about that.

Middlen, the epilogue in book 7 is something I only read once and never have again during my future readings. Despite the epilogue Harry Potter is probably my favorite book series. Ginny…I know what I'm going to do with her, but you'll just have to wait to find out ;) And I say finish your story. It's a great sense of accomplishment when you finish a story, especially if it's a multi chaptered one. Oh, and I certainly hope I make the Harry/Hermione fandom, despite my meddling with Harry's gender :)

CR4, Yep, he didn't know. It has been kind of a secret, which I'll explain in the distant future of the story (Order of the Phoenix). Yes, she has short hair, at least as of right now. In chapter two, when Hagrid first sees Hayley there is a description. I initially wrote a very brief description, but I've since gone back and elaborated on it more than I did originally.

Okay, that's it folks! Drop me a review and let me know what you think, good or bad, I don't really mind either way. :)


	6. A Wizard's Duel

Sorry this took so long to update and it is definitely far shorter than I would have liked, but I figured it would be better to put something out than take even longer to add a few more scenes that can be in the next chapter. So, please enjoy…

~~**~~  
Chapter 6 – A Wizard's Duel  
~~**~~

Hayley walked to the Great Hall eagerly. She was incredibly bored waiting in the Common Room, for supper to begin. At least she was bored until Oliver Wood showed up and told her when her first training session would be. His excitement was contagious, despite her worries about the sport. Wood said he would explain everything when they got on the field and that everything would make sense then. Wood also made it clear to her that it was a really rarity to even have the opportunity to play Quidditch at her age.

She was decent enough at Muggle sports. Her favorite was football. She usually played centre midfield when they played it in school. But she never tried out for any leagues or anything because that would have meant she would have cost the Dursleys more money and that was something they'd never agree to. In Quidditch, they were clearly on broomsticks, so she didn't need the same stamina that she needed to play football. And even though she'd only been on a broom once, it felt so natural, so she wasn't concerned about that. She was a little curious about what her position as seeker required of her though, 'I guess I'll find out soon enough.' She thought to herself as she traveled down the last staircase that would take her to the Great Hall.

Right now all she really wanted to do was let Hermione and Ron know that she wasn't expelled. As soon as she reached the bottom, she hurried to the Great Hall and headed directly for her house table. She smiled when she saw the two people she wanted to talk to. Hayley quickly walked over to them, "Hermione…Ron…" She called once they were within earshot.

The two first years turned around nearly simultaneously, both looking surprised to see her. Hermione was the first to recover as she got up and crashed into Hayley, "We were worried that you really were expelled. We didn't see you in any our afternoon classes."

"What happened with Professor McGonagall, mate?" Ron asked quickly.

"You won't believe me when I tell you." Hayley replied and the trio moved to sit at their house table. As soon as they were seated Hayley explained what happened from the time she left the courtyard until now.

* * *

"_Seeker_? Seriously?" Ron asked, trying to keep his voice down.

Hayley nodded, "Yeah. I'm just relieved that I wasn't expelled."

"I don't think you would have been expelled but you are lucky that you didn't get in trouble." Hermione explained.

Ron looked in the brunette's direction, "That's not what you were saying just before Hayley showed up."

Hermione looked flustered for a moment before saying, "I was just concerned and not thinking logically."

"I'm just glad I'm not facing any kind of punishment." Hayley interjected. "Well, aside from being forced to play Quidditch…" She added.

Ron's eyes widened and he stared at the black haired girl, "You should be excited, Hayley! I know nearly any first year would like to have this chance. You have to be the youngest house player in…"

"A century…Wood told me." She stated as she reached for a pumpkin pasty. Ron was left speechless, clearly unaware that it had been _that_ long. "Professor McGonagall and Wood want to keep this secret, so you guys can't tell anyone." As soon as the words left her mouth she felt someone give her a pat on the back. She looked over her shoulder and saw Fred and George Weasley.

"Well done…" George said in a hushed tone, "Wood told us. We're on the team too, we're Beaters." He explained.

"We're definitely winning the Quidditch cup this year!" Fred said gleefully. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but that's gonna change this year. You must be good, Hayley, cause Wood was positively ecstatic when he told us."

"We should be going. Lee Jordan seems to think he's found a new secret passageway outta school." George explained.

"I bet it's the one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy." Fred said and whispered to Hayley, "We found that in our first week."

"See you." George said and they started to walk away.

The Weasley twins had barely left when a far less pleasant trio arrived…

"Letting you have one last meal before sending you back on the train, Potter?"

Hayley looked up to see a sneering Malfoy along with Crabbe and Goyle. A small smile spread across her lips. Her expression only got bigger when she watched the three Slytherin boys, "I don't know what you mean, Malfoy, I'm not going anywhere." That left the three Slytherin boys at a loss for words, which only bolstered Hayley's confidence. "I can't help but notice you're much braver now with both your feet on the ground and you've got your two little friends with you."

Malfoy glared at Hayley, "I can take you just fine all by myself." He paused for moment, "How about tonight? A wizard's duel, wands only, no contact." He paused again when he saw the confusion on Hayley's face, "What's wrong? Never heard of wizard's duel?"

"Of course she has!" Ron said and stood up quickly. "I'm her second, who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Goyle and then Crabbe before looking back at Hayley and Ron, "Crabbe. Midnight, we'll meet you in the trophy room; it's never locked." He said before walking away.

Once they were completely out of sight Hayley turned to Ron, "What exactly is a wizard's duel? And what do you mean that you're my second?"

"A second takes over the duel if you die." Ron said far too casually for Hayley's liking causing her to blanch at his statement. His statement also caught someone else's attention…

"What did you just say?" Hermione asked the red headed boy.

Ron rolled his eyes, "She isn't going to die, that only happens in proper duels, with real wizards." He said and turned back to Hayley, "The most you and Malfoy can do throw sparks at each other. Is not like either of you know any magic that can do real damage." He said easing Hayley's worry somewhat. After taking another bite of food he added, "I'm sure he didn't even expect you to accept."

Hayley took a deep breath before asking, "What if nothing comes out of my wand?"

"You aren't really going to duel him are you?" Hermione asked, turning her attention to Hayley.

Ron shrugged, "Then throw away your wand and punch him in the face." He suggested and continued to eat.

Hayley laughed lightly at his suggestion, but stopped when she felt someone pull her sleeve. She looked to see who it was and saw Hermione staring at her, "Please tell me you aren't considering this…"

"Maybe I am."

Hermione looked surprised as she said, "You were lucky to not get in trouble earlier, but I can guarantee you won't be so lucky this time."

"If I can teach Malfoy a lesson, it'll be worth it." Hayley said with a small smile.

Hermione stood up and huffed, "I thought you would have learned from earlier, but you're still just as thick." She said and stormed off.

"What's her problem?" Ron asked and looked over to Hayley.

The dark haired girl watched Hermione walk away for a few moments longer, before turning to her red headed friend and shrugged her shoulders, "Not a clue." She said and worked on finishing her plate.

Ron just shrugged as well and asked, "So what spells do you know?"

Hayley finished the food in her mouth, "Only what we've been taught in class."

The red head looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Well none of those will help…" Causing Hayley to nod her head, she knew that much already. "I'm sure all the spells Fred and George told me will be useless."

Again Hayley nodded and put down her fork on her empty plate, "Maybe we should look through our Defense Against the Dark Arts texts and see if there's anything of use in them."

"Good idea." Ron acknowledged.

Hayley got up and said, "I'm going to go talk to Hermione. Let's meet in the common room afterwards and see what we can come up with." She said and waited for a moment for his response.

Ron nodded, "Ok."

"Alright, see you around eight." The dark haired girl said before she left the Great Hall.

* * *

Hayley reached the common room quickly, hoping to find Hermione there, but there was no sign of her there, so she decided to look up in their dorm room. When she reached to the door to her dorm, she opened it slowly and started to look inside as she asked, "Hermione, are you in here?" She didn't get a response, but when her eyes fell on to the bed next to her own, she saw the person she was looking for.

Hermione sat on her bed with her crossed her arms across her chest as she and looked at her friend in annoyance, "I can't believe you're actually going to go through with that duel. It's barbaric, it's…"

"I'm not going to back down from Malfoy." Hayley said quickly interrupting the other girl.

"Why?" Hermione countered just as quickly and stared unflinchingly at Hayley.

"Because…." Hayley started to say, before she realized she didn't really have a valid argument, but she wasn't going to concede her argument yet. "I'm not a coward."

"That's not a good reason. You should just tell one of the professors, like Professor McGonagall."

Hayley shook her head a couple times before speaking, "I know his type Hermione and going to a professor won't stop him. Someone needs to _put_ him in his place."

"I'll tell Percy, he's a Prefect so he could put a stop to this foolishness." Hermione threatened.

Hayley stared at her friend for a moment and saw that she was serious. "This doesn't involve you, Hermione." Hayley said and got up, making her way toward the door, not seeing the hurt flash across her friend's eyes. She was nearly out of room before her roommate spoke again.

"Maybe…I just don't want you to get hurt…"

Her friend spoke quietly but Hayley could still hear what she said and it caused her to freeze for a moment. She didn't anticipate the concern in her voice after her threat to snitch on Ron and her. Hayley knew she couldn't just leave then, so she turned back around and walked back over to her bed, across from Hermione. "Come on, we don't even know any spells that can really hurt each other."

"You might not, but that doesn't mean Draco doesn't." The brunette countered logically.

Hayley knew the other girl was right, there really wasn't any telling what sorts of spells Malfoy may actually know, but she wasn't going to back down now though, "You're right. I don't know what he may know, but I'm not going to back out now."

Hermione shook her head, got up, and walked to the other side of her bed and faced away from Hayley, "Fine, I'm tired of arguing with you." She said and reached down, picking up a book. Hayley rolled her eyes and started to walk out of the dorm again when her roommate spoke again, "I hope you know, you're only going to get caught and end up hurting Gryffindor."

"We won't get caught." Hayley said confidently and continued toward the door. "And even if we were caught, Malfoy would end up losing points for Slytherin too."

"Idiot..."

Hayley paused for a moment at the door, unsure if she heard the other girl say something more, but after a couple seconds of silence she opened the door and left Hermione alone to head to the common room and talk to Ron. When she made it into the circular room beneath the dorms, she looked around to see her friend, but didn't see him. Hayley sighed and went over to one of the armchairs near the fireplace; she was a little earlier than she told him. She watched the fire and thought about what was to come in a few hours.

'We'll be lucky if we aren't caught.' She told herself honestly. Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, were always on the lookout for students doing anything against the rules and students out after curfew was a big rule. She was aware of what kind of trouble Ron and her would be in without Hermione reminding her and she couldn't help but feel as though she was pushing her luck too much for one day, but then she also felt she'd reached the point of no return. Allowing Ron to accept her duel may not have been the smartest thing she'd ever done, but she also felt someone sorely needed to teach Malfoy a lesson.

"There you are…" Ron said and approached Hayley with textbook in hand.

Hayley nodded and held up her book, "Let's see if this book has anything useful in it." She said and earned a nod from her friend as he sat down and opened his book.

* * *

Hayley closed her book and sighed. They couldn't find any spell that she felt comfortable using, especially without any practice. "Well, that wasn't as helpful as I hoped it would have been." Hayley said and tossed her book into one of the empty chairs near her.

Ron simply shrugged, "It was a good thought." He said and tossed his book into the same chair. The duo sat in silence for a short time before Ron spoke again, "If he does try to curse you, you'd better dodge because I don't remember how to block them." Ron advised as he stood up from his chair. "We should get going, it's almost eleven thirty."

Hayley nodded and stood up as well. Both of them started to head toward the exit to the common room when a voice behind them.

"The both of you are going to get caught and then you'll end up losing Gryffindor all the points I got for our house during Transfiguration for knowing about switching spells."

Hayley rolled her eyes and Ron groaned when they heard who was behind them. "How long have you been snooping?"

Hermione ignored the red headed boy and addressed the other girl, "I can't believe you are really going to go through with this."

Hayley stopped and looked back at her roommate, "Hermione, just go back to bed, I don't want to continue with argument with you." Hayley said and turned back toward the portrait hole, followed by Ron.

"What will it take to get you to understand this is a bad idea? There's only two ways this will likely end, the two of you getting caught and losing points for our house or you end up in the hospital wing, Hayley." Hermione said as she followed right behind them.

"Thanks for having so much faith in my abilities." Hayley said sarcastically and quickened her pace in an effort to leave the other girl behind.

"Just go away." Ron said as he glanced over his shoulder. Hayley pushed open the portrait and stepped through the hole, followed by Ron, and to her annoyance Hermione as well.

"You know, I'm going to tell you that I told you so when the both of you are packing tomorrow morning. The both of you are insufferable, I don't know why I even…" Hermione's speech was cut short by the banging of the portrait of the Fat Lady closing behind them. The brunette glanced over her shoulder instinctively looking in the direction of the noise, but as soon as she saw the picture, she knew she was in trouble too. The Fat Lady was nowhere to be found. She walked back to the portrait and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. She quickly turned to look at Hayley and Ron, "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You were the one who followed us, so that's your problem." Ron said unsympathetically.

"Let's get going." Hayley whispered and started down the corridor, Ron quickly followed after her

"I'm coming with too." Hermione said as she hurried to catch up with them.

Hayley stopped and looked at the other girl, "Why the change of heart?"

Hermione glared at her, "I'm not coming to support you." She said curtly and paused for a second before adding, "I'm just not going to stand out here alone and wait for Filch to come by and find me. If I go with you and he finds us, I'll just tell him I was trying to stop you."

"You just have it all figured out…" Ron started to say when he was interrupted.

"Shh…I thought I heard something." Hayley said and inched forward. She tried to look at the ground ahead of them, but it was really too dark to see anything clearly. 'It sounded like there was some shuffling just ahead.' She thought to herself.

"Mrs. Norris…" Ron muttered quietly.

Hayley shook her head, "I'm not sure, I can't see a thing." She said when all of a sudden someone jumped up in front of them, scaring the three of them half to death.

"Thank goodness you found me! I didn't think I'd ever be able to get into the dorms. I've been out here for hours!"

"Neville? What are you doing out here?" Hayley said in a hushed whisper.

"I couldn't remember the password when I got back from the infirmary." Neville explained.

"It's 'pig snout', but that won't do you any good now because the Fat Lady went off somewhere." Ron stated.

"How's your arm doing?" Hermione asked.

"Fine." He replied and moved it around as proof. "Madam Pomfrey fixed it without any trouble."

"That's great, but we really need to be on our Neville…" Ron said and started to walk down the hall again.

"Wait! Don't leave me here all alone. The Bloody Baron's come by twice already!" Neville shrieked.

Ron turned and looked at the other boy, "Would you be quiet?" He hissed and looked at Hayley, "I swear this was going to be hard enough without these two tagalongs, but now it'll be nearly impossible to not to get caught."

"We've already lost too much time, so we need to hurry." Hayley said quietly and ushered everyone forward.

The quartet stealthily made their way toward the third floor staircase. They were surprised at how successfully they were. There was no sign of Mrs. Norris snooping around or Filch for that matter, but they still continued forward slowly, not wishing to push their luck.

"Where are we going?" Neville whispered when they reached the staircase to the third floor.

No one answered his inquiry, until they were about halfway to the third floor. "The trophy room." Hermione answered quietly.

Neville nodded and was silent once again, at least until they reached the top of the steps. "Why are we going to the trophy room?"

"Because Hayley and Ron stupidly decided to accept…"

Hayley turned around and addressed Neville, "It's not important why we're going there, you decided to follow us. So, no more talking unless you want all of us to get caught." She said cutting off what she was sure would have been a long and irritating speech by Hermione. The brunette opened her mouth, but closed it without saying anything after a couple seconds, choosing instead to huff quietly and keep her thoughts to herself.

They made it safely to the trophy room without another word from anyone. Hayley took out her wand once everyone was safely inside and looked around for Malfoy and Crabbe, she wouldn't put it past him to take a cheap shot. She took in the room as she looked around, it was filled with glass cases that were in turn filled with all manners of trophies.

"They're even later than us." Ron whispered as he continued to look around. "Maybe he chickened out." He suggested.

"Or Filch caught him." Hayley thought aloud. There was a sudden noise to their left that caused all of them to jump.

"Go on, sniff them out my sweet. They're probably hiding somewhere."

The group froze as panic started to set in, "That was Filch." Ron whispered as quietly as possible.

Hayley looked around quickly and saw a door leading to an adjoining room, 'He must be in there.' She thought to herself and looked back at everyone, "We need to get out of here right now." She grabbed the closest person to her and pulled them toward the door. They needed to move fast, but also quietly. They quickly maneuvered around a couple glass cases and made it back to the door. Hayley could hear the other door begin to open, so she quickly ushered everyone out the door. The group quickly exited the room and shut the door just before being spotted.

"They're in here somewhere, keep looking." They could hear Filch tell Mrs. Norris.

Hayley looked at everyone and pointed down the corridor before mouthing, "Let's go."

They followed after the dark haired girl and it was going smoothly until Neville suddenly tripped over something and began to fall, grabbing on to the closest thing to him, which just happened to be Ron. The two of them tumbled over and crashed into a suit of armor that rested along the wall.

'Being quiet wasn't really an option anymore', "RUN FOR IT!" Hayley yelled and made a run for it, hoping Filch was far enough away that he wouldn't be able to catch up with them. Hayley didn't really even know where she was going; she was just running down one corridor after another hoping to lose Filch if he was even following them, she didn't even want to look. Eventually they came to a ripped tapestry hanging on the wall. As they got closer she could see there was no wall behind the fabric, 'That must be one of the hidden passages Fred and George have mentioned.' She thought and ran through the flimsy fabric. Everyone followed through as well, not slowing down until they came out of the passageway. Hayley looked around to see if she knew where they were and much to her relief she did, they were just outside their Charms classroom.

Hayley leaned against the cold stone wall and tried to catch her breath. She hadn't run that fast in a while, not since the last week her last school term when she had to run away from Dudley and his group. "I-I think…we lost him." She panted out.

Hermione held her hand over her still pounding heart as she glared at Hayley, "I told you…something like this…would happen." She said and after taking a couple more deep breaths she reiterated, "I _told_ you."

"We need to get back to the dorms, the quicker the better." Ron said.

"You do realize that Malfoy tricked you, don't you? He had no intention on fighting you. Filch was looking for someone to be in the trophy room. Who do you think tipped him off?" Hermione asked and looked pointedly at Hayley.

The black haired girl stared back at her for a few seconds, she thought about saying something, but didn't want to have another argument especially when she knew Hermione was right. Hayley broke eye contact with her and looked at Ron, "Let's go."

They had barely taken a couple steps when they noticed the doorknob to Charms began to jiggle, causing them to freeze. After a moment, something shot out of the still closed door and stopped right in front of them. Peeves, the school poltergeist gave off a loud squeal.

"Please Peeves, you'll get us caught." Hayley pleaded.

That only caused Peeves to squeal even more, "Wondering around after midnight…naughty, naughty Firsties, you'll get caughty."

"We won't be, if you keep it down." Ron hissed.

"I should tell Filch, I should." Peeves said sweetly. "It would be for your own good, after all."

Ron gritted his teeth, "Get out of our way, Peeves." He said and swiped at the air.

Peeves shrieked before screaming, "Students out of bed! Students out of bed in the Charms corridor!"

Again, they were on the run for it. They ducked passed Peeves and ran to the end of the hallway, which ended up being a dead end. Looking around quickly Hayley saw their only means of escape, a door. She quickly ran to it and tried to open it and as it seemed to be their luck all night, the door was locked.

"It's over!" Ron yelled and fruitlessly pushed against the door. "We'll be caught for sure!"

They could hear rapid footsteps getting closer and closer and everything seemed to be bleak indeed, until Hermione grabbed Hayley's wand. "Move it." Hermione said and pushed Ron away from the door. She touched the lock with the wand and said, "Alohomora!"

There was an audible clicking noise and the door swung open. Without another word, the quartet rushed into the room and quickly closed the door. They pressed the ears against the door and listened carefully to the conversation outside.

"Which way did they go?" Filch said and paused for moment, "Quickly, Peeves!"

"You didn't say please…"

"Don't even think about playing around with me Peeves! Tell me where they went!" Filch said, sounding extremely irritated.

"I won't say nothing if you don't say please." Peeves said in a cheerful voice.

"Fine…_please_."

"NOTHING!" Peeves yelled and laughed like a manic. "I told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please!" Peeves mocked and laughed even more hysterically. They could hear a whooshing sound and Filch cussing angrily.

Hayley took a deep breath, "He thinks this door is locked, so we should be safe." She said and felt someone pulling on her sleeve. She looked over to her left and saw Neville with his hand on her sleeve, "What is it?" She saw him pointing shakily at something behind her. Hayley around and looked where he was pointing. She could feel herself blanch at the sight in front of her. 'I didn't think this night could get any worse?' The door was locked for good reason…and then she remembered something Professor Dumbledore said at the start of term banquet…'_Finally, I must inform everyone that for this year's term, the third floor corridor on the right side of school is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a most painful death_.' 'This is why it is off-limits.' She thought.

In front of them stood a monstrously huge three headed dog, straight out of mythological legend. Its heads nearly touched the ceiling as it stood up fully and snarled at them, baring its yellowish fangs. It had yet to make a move toward them, but it was eyeing them with all six of its eyes. Hayley slowly reached behind herself and felt for the door handle, when the Cerberus' growls thundered through the room. She finally felt the handle and quickly opened the door, not really caring at the moment if Filch was still around since he was a far better option over being eaten.

The quartet fell out of the room as soon the door was open, but the 'hound' was still moving toward them, biting at the air as it reached the door. Hayley quickly got to her feet and slammed the door shut and breathing a sigh of relief. No one needed to say anything as all of them bolted out of the corridor trying to get after far away from that thing as they could. There was a small amount of relief that they didn't run into Filch, but that really was the farthest thing in any of their minds as they finally reached the staircase to the Gryffindor tower. They finally stopped running when they saw the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Where have all of you been at this hour?" The Fat Lady asked as she looked at the four shaken students.

Hayley shook her head, "You…don't want…to know…pig snout." She said between shaky breaths.

The Fat Lady didn't question them further; she simply opened up for them and they didn't waste any time rushing inside. As soon as they entered the common room, everyone collapsed into a chair and did their best to catch their breath and come down from their adrenaline highs. No one seemed too eager to speak, in fact looked like he'd be mute for the rest of his life.

"Why would they being keeping a beast like that locked up in the school?" Ron finally asked the group.

Hayley shook her head and Neville still looked just as petrified as he did when they encountered the three headed dog. Hermione seemed to have her wits about her quickest, because she got up from the armchair she sat on and looked at Ron, "What are your eyes for? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

Hayley once again shook her head, "The floor…I was a little busying looking at its _three_ heads rather than its feet."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the other girl of the group, "A trapdoor. It was standing on a trapdoor, so clearly it was guarding something." She took a deep breath now before adding, "I hope you realize how lucky you both were tonight. We could have been killed or worse _expelled_." She said and began walking away, stopping just before the staircase to the girl's dorm. "Now I'm going to sleep and if you know what's good for yourselves, you'll do the same." She said and disappeared, missing the raspberry Ron gave in her direction.

Hayley sat in her seat quietly and in thought. 'That dog was guarding something…' she thought when something Hagrid had said came to her, Gringotts was the safest place in the world expect for one other place…Hogwarts. 'If something was taken from Gringotts to be kept safe, Hogwarts would be where to keep it.' Whatever Hagrid took from vault seven hundred and thirteen, she was now sure that it was here and it was what that dog was guarding.

Ron yawned across from her before getting up, "We have get him back for this." He said, drawing Hayley's attention to him and causing her to nod. "See you at breakfast?"

"Yeah, see you then." She said with one more nod of her head.

"Are you coming Neville?" Ron asked and received a silent nod from the other boy before he got up and followed the red headed boy up to their dorm.

Once the two boys had disappeared Hayley got up as well, her mind going over what could possibly be beneath that trap door. 'It was so small.' She thought as she recalled Hagrid being given the object and placing it in the inner pocket of his jacket. She reached her dorm room and opened the door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake anyone, though she doubted that Hermione could have already fallen asleep. She quietly made her way to her bed and sat down when she noticed her wand on the nightstand beside her bed. 'I forgot she had that.' She thought to herself, but she had to admit that they definitely would have been caught if it wasn't for her quick thinking and opening that door, the Cerberus notwithstanding. 'I really should thank her for that, even though she was frustrating most of the night.' She thought and laid back in her bed. She stared up at the ceiling above her bed and silently hoped that she would fall asleep relatively soon or she'd never be able to keep her eyes open during class.

End Ch.6

* * *

CR4, my plans for Ginny, I'm going to keep those to myself. I'm not going to talk about future plot points, because in retrospect I regret saying who Hayley will be paired with. I wish I could go back and just say the story was going to slash and that's all. And no, that was a misspelling on my part, sorry about that, but thanks for pointing it out. I've corrected it.

skittlegirl222, Thanks! Sorry it took this long for an update; because it definitely was not the way I planned it. I too wish there were a few more selections when it comes to these types of stories, but I hope people continue to be imaginative and think outside the box. Hopefully despite the delay you are still waiting :)


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